The Shadow's Reach
by MissLonelyNights
Summary: A look at Mugen's origins and the circumstances of his upbringing in the Ryukyu islands. What would a child's life be with the hardships of growing up in a place described as "what hell would be like"? Please read n' review
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **_This is my take on where and who Mugen came from, and the circumstances surrounding his childhood. Warning: Obviously it's going to be rather dark, with quite a bit of violence and general unpleasantness. I don't intend to be too graphic, but there will be adult themes and some language. They don't really give you much for any of the characters' backgrounds in the anime, and I'm such a sucker for a backstory...if anyone enjoys it, let me know! __**Thanks**__ to all who read!!!_

Yuhana woke to a most familiar sound: crying. "Sister...", her little brother sniffled. "Sister...I'm hungry."

Her eyes were still blurry from sleep, but she rose up blinking and looked around the room. Dusty sunlight filtered in through the cracks in the boards that made their small home. Her mother was sleeping a few feet away, but she apparently hadn't brought home anything to eat during the night. It was their third day without food, and she felt more sorry for her little brother and sister, who weren't yet old enough to find ways of ignoring their hunger.

Yuhana sighed. It had always been this way. She was fifteen now, and was surprised herself that she had survived this long. She and her mother made their home on the outskirts of their small town in a thrown together shack, and things had only gotten harder after her little brother and sister arrived. She had never known her father, a young nobleman in whose home her mother used to work as a servant. Once the young man's mother discovered his indiscretions with Sachiko, the young maid was promptly thrown from the house. A few months later, Yuhana was born. Now, her mother went out at night and didn't say where, but Yuhana had her suspicions. Sometimes she came back with money or food, and sometimes she came back with neither.

A sharp wail broke her free of her thoughts. Her little sister, barely a year old, was awake now and very upset at her empty stomach. Sachiko stirred as well, casting a weary glance at her children, whose eyes were fixated on her. "I'm sorry," she started, "There isn't anything to eat today either, and crying isn't going to fill your stomachs." she said to Satoru, whose three year old mind had no idea what she was talking about.

"You're going to have to do something to help." she snapped at Yuhana. "Those little trinkets you make aren't doing much good to bring in any money or food either. You may as well resign yourself to my fate." she told her.

"Why?" Yuhana asked sharply. "We can all see how much more helpful it is than what I do." Her mother had been referring to the necklaces and things she sometimes strung together from the shells and stones by the sea. Other times, she made straw hats for travelers if she could find the materials, but that was rare. Once in a while, someone would take pity and buy some of her wares, and she could bring home some food for them. Sachiko only rolled her eyes and scoffed as she left the house. "Good luck with _them._" she spat as she left, shoving a thumb backwards over her shoulder. Yuhana looked around, and noticed that her little sister's cries were fading. She was lying down again, and her eyes were glazed over, almost unseeing. The little girl was eerily silent. She rushed over to her and she gave a small whimper. She realized then with a sick feeling that if the child didn't get some food soon, there would be no saving her.

"Satoru, no matter what, stay here and wait for me." she said, kneeling down and holding her little brother's shoulders. "I'll come back soon." she promised. The little boy nodded as he rubbed his hand under his running nose. She walked out into the bright hot day. Summer was at it's peak, and it was miserably hot even in the early morning. Grudgingly, she made her way into the inner part of town. She watched everything carefully. People were milling around the market, some of them in fine clothes, others in haphazard dress. The smell of an outdoor food vendor caught her nose, and her stomach cramped. She clenched her hands into fists. She would do what she had to now.

Two young merchants stood at the stand, waiting for their food; some sort of tempura and rice dish by the smell. She watched from the shade of a dry goods stand while they were served. One took a bite, and promptly showed off by making a scene. "You actually call this crap food?" he shouted at the owner. "I wouldn't let a dog eat that." he said, throwing his chopsticks at the old man. The two boisterously left, while the old man shouted apologies after them. While the vendor was distracted, Yuhana saw her chance to feed her younger siblings. She quietly snatched the two bowls from the counter, and quickly turned and ducked around the corner.

"Hey you little bitch! Just what do you think you're doing!" came the cry from inside the restaurant. Not fast or quiet enough to escape, she cursed herself, and started to run. The restaurant owner and another man burst through the side door and tackled her, wrestling her to the ground.

"Please, it's for my little brother and sister!" she cried as they hauled her to her feet. "Please, they haven't eaten in days!" she told them, tears finally making their way out of her eyes and onto the front of her ragged kimono.

"Why should I give a shit?" the old man snarled. "You're going to pay for thinking you could steal from me, you little whore. I run a respectable business and work too hard for snot nosed brats like you to think you can just walk up and take what you want!" he shouted, the back of his hand colliding with her face. "We'll just let the authorities deal with you."

After that, Yuhana's mind seem to wander into a kind of fog. She barely remembered the smell of the dirt and wood in her cell where she waited for trial. She couldn't recall the face of the man who condemned her to exile, or even his voice. As she sat chained on a ship bound for the Ryukyu islands, all she could see was the faces of the little children she had left to go find food, and almost all the hope she had ever stored in her heart died with the setting sun.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: _Continuing on, I don't really have much knowledge about the whole prisoner exile thing, so I'm making it up as I go…there isn't much information around on the subject of criminal exile during the Edo period in Japan, so bear with me. Thanks to all who read, please read n' review!_

After several days aboard ship, Yuhana noticed that the crew seemed to be making preparations to dock, doing prisoner checks and making sure they had everyone ready to disembark. It was early morning when the ship made port, and the guards began switching the shackles that held them to the ship to ones that allowed them to move. Yuhana rubbed her wrists for the few moments the cuffs were off, they were still sore from the fresh indigo tattoos that let the world know she had been imprisoned.

They were all lead off single file, and for the first time Yuhana looked around at her shipmates. They were young and old alike, some even younger than her. They were all checked off and split up, a specific number to be divided up among settlements. She was led to the small "town" just offshore, and she noticed on the way in there was a small, unkempt guard shack at the beginning of the rows of houses. She stole a glance inside as they passed, and as she suspected, it was empty. Their chains were removed under heavy guard, and the soldiers then left them to their fates.

She suddenly felt very small, even among the little ramshackle huts that were pitifully huddled together as if to shelter each other from the sea. Men passed by in the street and glanced at her with looks that frightened her. She couldn't let herself think of what might be in store for her here, instead she began to look around for a hut that seemed to be empty. Things here seemed so foreign and different, even though she had been far from rich back home. It was so hot and humid and she began to sweat almost immediately, and she knew now that the summer heat of central Honshu was nothing compared to this. She looked around at the landscape, mostly beach, and a gnarled looking stretch of flat forest was beyond the scrub grass that plateaued at the top of the hill the village sat on. The sea was just at the bottom of the hill, she could see the waves crashing on the shore. It was much closer than where she had previously lived. The place looked dismal all around, she thought. She stopped in front of one that seemed to be a little more out of the way than the rest, setting a little further back off the road. It seemed to be relatively sturdy.

"The old woman that lived there died last week." a voice said from behind her. "You may as well lay claim to it as anybody else." Yuhana spun around, her heart in her throat at the sudden shock. A woman carrying a baby on her back looked at her for a moment, then moved on, her duty done. Her voice had sounded harsh and coarse, and her face matched it. She knew life here would be hard, but what horrors really lay in wait in a place full of criminals where the law was scant at best? She brushed the thought from her mind again, and slid open the door to her new home. She was in luck, a cooking pot and futon was still inside, as well as a couple of wooden bowls. However, there wasn't any food that she could see. The cooking utensils were in fairly good shape, but the futon had holes in it and was terribly worn. She wondered if she could find some material to patch it.

The prisoners had been given a few provisions when they had arrived, and she set it out by the cooking pot and decided to go and get some water to boil the rice. There was a small freshwater stream running just above the town, further up the hill, and she gathered some in one of the wooden bowls and made her way back to town. While she was eating, someone suddenly burst through the door of her tiny house. A woman twice her size said nothing, but looked around until she found Yuhana's small box of rice, which she promptly grabbed and started to leave. Almost from instinct, Yuhana grabbed the hem of her kimono and she fell to the ground, the worn material ripping as she went down.

"You little bitch!" the woman shouted. "This my only kimono! Clothes don't grow on trees around here you know!" she screeched, slapping her with such force she hit the floor. "Just what the hell am I supposed to do now!" she ranted, landing a solid kick to Yuhana's ribs.

Yuhana looked up, and in spite of her fear, she managed to get words out. "That is my rice." she said rather matter of factly.

The woman laughed out loud. "Yours?" she asked, and laughed again. "Yours is what you take, and fight to keep on this island." she said, holding up the rice box. "You better learn that if you're going to survive." she told her, turning to leave.

"I can sew your kimono, if you can find me some thread." Yuhana told her as she started to leave. She couldn't think of anything else to say. She certainly would be in bad shape if the woman stole the only food she had. "Give me back the rice, and I'll do it."

The woman came close again. "How about you do it, or I slit your throat?" she asked, a strange glint in her eye.

"If you slit my throat, you'll be without clothes or someone to fix them." Yuhana said, shocked at her own boldness.

The woman laughed again."My name's Cho. What's your name?" she asked. "I think I kind of like you."

Yuhana told her, then asked where they could get some thread, and she lead her to a woman's hut that had different scraps of fabric and a few assorted sewing tools. "What's that stuff you were wanting again?" Cho asked.

"Thread." Yuhana said, amazed that she didn't even know what held her clothes together.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't know about all that stuff." Cho said with a waving her hand nonchalantly.

"You know how to sew?" the woman of the house asked. "There aren't many women around here that do."

"Well, yes." Yuhana said.

"Tell you what." Cho started. "I'll get you some thread or whatever you need, and you fix this for me. Then I give you back some of your rice. You owe me some for tearing my clothes."

Yuhana reluctantly agreed, even though the argument didn't make much sense. She wasn't especially excited about the thought of a slit throat, no matter how bleak the circumstances were. She was frightened she might change her mind later. She shrugged off the thought. At least if she had a death wish, there seemed to be plenty of people around willing to oblige. After fixing the skirt of Cho's kimono, she cooked her a meager dinner and fell asleep on her ragged futon. She wondered how she would survive after her rations ran out. Maybe, she thought, she could learn how to catch fish from the ocean.

The door to her hut burst open around dawn the next morning, and a strange man was standing in her doorway. She jumped up, clutching her kimono around her and stared at the stranger. He was bare chested, and threw his shirt at her. "Fix this for me, and I'll give ya two of these fish I caught this morning." he said. "Woman down the street said you would do it."

"She…said for me to do it?" she asked, wondering why she would pass up the opportunity to trade for food.

"She's got other ways of putting food in her mouth." he said. "You should be glad she passed it on to you."

"I am, I guess I'm just surprised at the luck." she said, picking up the shirt and reaching for her thread and the needle that Cho had gotten her. She wasn't very pleased when she learned you had to have both to do the job.

"It won't last long." the man said. He looked young, but he seemed weatherbeaten. "And don't expect that pale skin of yours to last long out there either." he said, nodding toward the door. "Mine didn't. And, for the record, don't expect any other virtues you have to last either. People take what they want and need around here, and that goes for everyone, so you may as well prepare for it." She looked at him with fearful eyes as she handed the shirt back to him. He sat the fish down by the fire, and left without another word. She didn't even ask his name.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **_Continuing on…please let me know if this whole endeavor sucks or if there's any improving I can do…__By the way, there is some violence and adult situations in this chapter, so reader beware. __Thanks for reading!! Please review!_

**Disclaimer: **Oops, I forgot about this in the first 2 chapters..I don't own Samurai Champloo…

Yuhana had been on the sweltering island that was to be her prison for nearly a month when, just as the nameless man had predicted, her luck started to run out. She had kept mostly to herself, or as much as was possible. She managed to scrape by through mending peoples' clothes, since there were few people who were able (or would bother) on the island to do the job. Sometimes she was able to make travelers' hats to shield from the sun and rain from the tall coarse grasses that grew on the island. Mostly she traded for food, or various other supplies she could trade for food or a few scraps of money. She decided not to bother worrying where the money or other goods on the island came from, being a prison colony.

Cho came to visit her now and again, mostly only to try and eat with her when she had no food of her own. Yuhana didn't mind so much, but she wasn't used to Cho's boisterous and raucous attitude. One night, Yuhana quietly ate by the fire as Cho regaled her with her adventures for the day.

"You shoulda seen it today! I pulled over a great one on some of the new guys today!" she told her happily. She seemed to be proud of these accomplishments, and Yuhana supposed that they were the only accomplishments she had. She didn't think she was better than anyone on the island, she certainly hadn't led a charmed life. However, part of her still wanted to cling to what little dignity she had left, and it was definitely very thin.

"I told them I wanted them to take me somewhere so we all could be alone, and they actually bought it! I robbed 'em blind!" she said, bursting into laughter. "I came off with a pretty good haul too, it was like picking up shells on the beach!" she told her.

Yuhana looked at her for a moment. "Won't they come looking for you?" she asked. It seemed like they would want retribution for their humiliation.

"Nah, I ain't afraid of those morons." she said. "If I was them, I wouldn't even admit to being robbed by a woman!" She broke into laughter again. Yuhana tried to smile in return, so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable, but then she doubted Cho would feel uncomfortable with much of anything.

"Come by tomorrow and I'll give you the fabric I got from 'em. They must have lifted it from a ship that docked nearby in distress. They probably took refuge on the east cape from that storm the other night." she conjectured, as she left. Yuhana hoped she could continue to survive the way she had been so far, she didn't want to put herself in the kind of danger that Cho did. She slept uneasily that night.

She rose early the next day, and made her way to Cho's home toward the lower end of the hill. As she approached, she noticed that there was a lot of shouting and commotion. Her heart nearly stopped when she came close: Cho was surrounded by five men, and the biggest one had her by the throat. This was exactly what she was afraid would happen. It was obvious he was very angry, no doubt one of the men she had robbed the previous day.

"You double crossing little bitch!" he yelled, the veins in his neck bulging out. "You're gonna give me back everything you stole from me and then you're gonna do what you said you would yesterday!" he said with a disgusting grin. Yuhana stood frozen to the spot. It was early and there weren't many people around, and the ones that were nearby acted as if nothing were happening. How could they just stand by and watch?

Cho only laughed at the ruffian. "What's the matter?" she chided. "Pissed off that you got cleaned out by a woman?" she asked, spitting in his face. "I do what I have to so I can survive, so you can kiss my…" but her words were stopped short, and a look of horror and pain spread across her face.

Yuhana looked down and noticed that the man had a knife plunged into her chest to the hilt. Her insults had been too much. Her body crumpled to the ground and was still. Yuhana looked on in terror. Her mind screamed at her to run away, but her legs wouldn't obey. All she could do was stare at the bloody scene, and at the perpetrators. Unfortunately, they saw her too, standing like a frightened animal there in the road, in plain sight.

"Well, look what we have here." the leader said, wiping the blood from the knife on his shirt. "Looks like we got a spectator. What's up little girl? Whatcha see turn you on?" he asked, leering at her. Finally, her legs began to work and she started to run, but it was too late. One of the gang grabbed her around the waist and shoulders and pulled her into a nearby empty shack.

One of the younger thugs threw her to the ground and she crashed hard, it took her a minute to try and get up, but there was no use. "We were gonna take what we wanted from that dead bitch." he said, "But you'll do just fine, you won't put up as much of a fight." he laughed. She did try to fight back, but she only got slapped and kicked for her effort. She was barely conscious. Everything seemed far away. Suddenly, she thought she heard fighting again, and as her vision came back into focus, there was another man in the room that hadn't been there previously.

She looked around and all the men that had dragged her into the hut were lying in pools of blood. The man stood over them, his sword dripping on the floor. He looked at her with a mix of boredom, scrutiny, and curiosity. He was tall and lean, his shaggy black hair to his bony shoulders. His features were sharp, especially his eyes, and her first impression of him was her unease, though he had just saved her. "I saw you yesterday." he told her. "You're the girl that does the mending around here, right?" he asked. She nodded, her face a mask of confusion. Why _had_ he saved her?

He gave his blade a short, quick swipe, throwing the blood off and some of it onto her. She cringed. "Sorry 'bout that." he said, but he only half meant it. "I been on this island for a long time, so you must be new here. It's obvious, if you're still so skittish of blood." he told her. "You mute, or something?" he asked her in response to her silent stare.

"No." she managed to get out. Her throat seemed dry and constricted.

"Good thing you have enough guts to earn your own keep, though. It may just keep you alive for a while." he said, as though it were nothing. They may as well have been discussing the current level of the tide. "Most of the women around here are usually dragging ass after whatever man they think will take care of them for a while." he told her. "I got an offer for ya." he said coming closer. "Whadda ya say me and you set up shop together?" he asked. "I could use a steady place to sleep and eat, and a steady piece don't sound too bad either." Yuhana only gaped at him.

"Do it, and I guarantee you won't have to worry about anybody messing with you, man or woman. No one around here messes with me." he said proudly. "You'll have protection, plus some extra food to eat." he said. "Sound like a deal?" he asked her. "Better just one guy having his way with you than a whole bunch of them you don't know all the time." he said, once again as if it were small talk over dinner.

Still sitting on the dirt floor, Yuhana said nothing. She was trying to process what had happened in just the past fifteen minutes, but it was nearly impossible. What had just happened? Was Cho really dead, lying out there in the street? Did those men really just try to violate her? Did this new man really cut them all down, then offer to live with her and…what was happening? He had her by the wrist now, and was leading her out of the falling down building. Cho was still lying where she had fallen, and she swallowed hard at the sight, then turned around as the man pulled her along.

She stopped at when they got to her home, and he did as well after noticing she had pulled free of him. She stared blankly at the tiny shack, still trying to figure out what was going on. She could hear his words in her head, and desperately tried to truly understand what they meant to her. She agreed with what he had said, but would he really protect her? Really help her? Was it all even real? He was pulling her through the doorway now. She stared just as numbly at the inside of her house, her eyes fixed almost blindly at the fire pit, searching for something, anything to get some kind of focus.

"Well, what's your answer?" he asked her. "I ain't into raping women, it's no good unless the woman is willing." he told her. She only turned and stared at him, and no words came. He smirked suddenly, coming close, inches away. "You know what they say about silence, right?" he asked, pulling her down onto the newly patched futon, a tone to his voice that sounded almost victorious. Yuhana closed her eyes tight against the pain and willed her mind to take her somewhere else, anywhere than where she was.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **_Not much to say this time…continuing on...Thanks for reading and reviewing! Reviews make me happy! Leave as many as you want!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai Champloo_

Yuhana woke at dusk, as the color was beginning to fade from the day. Her hut had become nothing but dark shapes and she heard a strange clicking sound. A spark flared; dry grass and sticks burst forth into flame in the firepit. She saw the man's face, the man that had saved her, that had come to her home, her bed. She didn't remember falling asleep, but at the recollection of everything that had happened she suddenly felt a strange creeping coldness come upon her. She looked down at the futon, and her clothes lay beside her. She tried to cover herself as best she could as she reached for them, a knot forming in her throat.

"What're ya doing?" he asked, sounding incredulous. "I've been staring at you laying there naked for a long time, why cover up now?" he questioned. Yuhana didn't reply.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Yuhana." she said. Her own voice sounded strange to her, as though she wasn't expecting it. She felt like she was in someone else's body, watching someone else's life through their eyes.

"How did you end up here?" he asked, sounding confused. "You're way too sheltered to have gotten into anything serious." he told her. "Hell, you'd never even been with a man. If I'da known that, I woulda gone easier on you." he said.

Yuhana looked back down at the dirt floor, humiliated. She thought about Cho's comment about slitting her throat and how she had wondered if she would regret not taking her offer later. Right now was a time when it didn't sound so bad. She didn't even know this man, and he was speaking to her in ways that made her nauseous about something so life changing. She didn't even know why she had made the decision to let him in her home. She was frightened, and didn't know what to do anymore. It felt as if she were being pulled along by some strange current she couldn't fight.

"I…stole some food to feed my little brother and sister, and I..got caught." she told him. "What about you?" she asked. She could only imagine, especially after the way he cut down her attackers earlier.

"Ah, I was stealing food and whatever else I needed from the time I could remember anything." he said. "I got sent here when I was a little younger than you. Then I started having to do much worse things. Funny, isn't it? Punish you for one crime, and it forces you to commit worse ones." he said. He sounded almost like he was genuinely amused at the fact. "My name's Kenru, since you didn't ask." he told her. She felt like she almost didn't want to know.

"Well I've got the fire going. Why don't you cook something since I went to the trouble?" he asked.

Kenru watched as she prepared the meal, her eyes constantly on her task. She looked as if she were thinking very hard. He suddenly wished he hadn't found a woman so green to have to put up with her moods while she figured out that her life from then on was going to be generally miserable. But, it was almost impossible to find a woman that fresh and untouched, not used up by the island colony. She was quiet too. Most of the women on these islands now were like her dead friend, ready to rob and kill you after you fell asleep.

He supposed he could deal with her strange attitudes until she settled in. If he protected her as he had said, then perhaps she would stay the way she was now, and he would have the benefit of being the only man that touched her, and wouldn't have to worry about her turning on him. That way he could have a guaranteed roof over his head and a woman to bed. Trying to get any woman worthwhile into bed was just too much trouble otherwise.

Later that night, a feeling that something wasn't right woke him. He blinked his eyes to try and adjust them, reaching out for Yuhana. She wasn't there. After a few moments, he began to get irritated. If she had gone outside to relieve herself, she would have been back by now. What the hell could she be doing? His luck had favored him for once, he wasn't about to let it slip away by her getting herself killed. Cursing under his breath, he pulled on his clothes and went outside. There was significant light, as the moon was nearly full. Looking around the house, he saw what looked to be footprints in the sandy soil leading around the back of the hut.

Following them down the hill to the shore, he saw a figure standing on the edge of the surf. He could tell it was her. What in the hell would compel her to walk down to the ocean's edge in the middle of the damn night? His hackles began to rise. This was ridiculous. Surely she wasn't thinking of throwing herself in? He stomped down to the shore, angry that he his sleep had been interrupted for something like this.

Yuhana stared into the ocean, almost transfixed at the rhythm of the waves crashing against the sand. It seemed to be the only thing here that was completely predictable, yet she almost hated it. She had lain awake after Kenru had come to bed and then fallen asleep, her mind turning on her. She thought of her life back home, dismal though it was, and it seemed like heaven compared to this. She thought of her two siblings, and wondered if they were even still alive, or if her mother was either. What must have Satoru thought when she didn't come back? Did he think she had abandoned him? The thought was too much. It would only take a few footsteps to lead her into the sea; it could take her over so easily. But she just couldn't do it. Suddenly a hand grabbed her arm, spinning her around, and she was looking into Kenru's angry face.

"What the hell are you doing out here at this hour?" he shouted over the surf. She only stared at him, as though she didn't understand the question. It was obvious that she had been crying. This irritated him even more. There was no place for tears in their world.

"I..I was thinking about my little brother and sister." she said. "I wonder what happened to them, if they're even alive." she told him. "I was thinking of home."

Kenru slapped her hard in the face, knocking her down. He was hauling her to her feet before she even hit the ground. The grip he had on her arm hurt even worse. She gasped, and grabbed his wrist, instinctively trying to dispel the source of her pain. Something warm and wet was running down her face, and she realized her nose was bleeding.

"That's enough of that shit!" he yelled at her. "If you don't put a stop to that kinda crap, you won't survive here! Do you understand what I'm telling you? You're going to have to toughen up, whether you like it or not! Your old life is gone! Standing down here blubbering in the surf isn't doing you a damn bit of good!" he told her. He hadn't really meant to hit her. But, she did need to grow some thicker skin, and fast, for if her will died, no amount of his protection would save her. He ran his hand over her face, to make sure he hadn't broken anything. He hadn't, and there wasn't any real swelling either, so he must have held back more than he thought. She cringed when he touched her.

"Don't start acting like a beaten dog either, like I'm going to hurt you every time I touch you." he told her, rubbing the bridge of her nose to try and get the bleeding to stop. When it did, he got some sea water that washed up and rinsed off her face. "Go back in the house, and get some sleep, it'll be daylight in a couple of hours." he said. She did what he said, and said nothing. He watched her go as she slowly wandered back up the hill. He hoped it wasn't too late for her. He wasn't sure if it was entirely for his own benefit, as he suspected, or for some other reason.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Picking up pace a little…PLEASE read n' review!! THANKS!

Disclaimer: dontownsamuraichamploo

Weeks turned into months, and summer passed into fall, though there was almost no way to tell on the island. The heat only receeded slightly, though any relief was better than none. As winter grew closer, the days became more comfortable, and Yuhana was glad at least that life there wasn't as bad as it could be. Kenru had been right, after it was made known that he had laid claim to her, no one else bothered her. There was the occasional rude comment or threat, but nothing ever came of it. They mostly got along well, though she still didn't care much for his rude behavior. He didn't get angry with her as much anymore, and she minded his presence in her home and bed less than she had expected. She was grateful that being associated with him kept her from many horrors. She wondered at times what he must have done to have garnered such fear, but decided she was better off not knowing.

He came and went, sometimes staying gone for weeks. She guessed he had only been there half the time they had known each other. There was a time he had come in, his clothes stained with blood, cuts and bruises covering him, and she had patched him up without a word. Knowing what he did would only cause her trouble. She seemed to be tolerating her new life better, and was almost hopeful again, until something toward the end of autumn came upon her suddenly. Her appetite was suddenly diminished, then she was completely ill. She was certain she was dying. She could hardly tolerate food at all, and barely water as well. She felt so weak and strange; she seemed to be able to feel the illness in her entire body. She worked slowly, the smallest of tasks seemed to use up all her energy. One day, as she took a piece of sewing back to it's owner, she became dizzy. The world seemed to twist and spin, then there was nothing.

"Well well, you took quite a fall." a voice said before she opened her eyes again. Sometimes, if she didn't move or open her eyes, the sickness would stay away. But who was that strange voice? It sounded like an old woman. She didn't feel the hard earth under her. Hadn't she been outside? She opened her eyes slowly, she was going to have to eventually anyway. There was an old woman beside her, and she was in her own home. How had she gotten here?

"I had the young man next door carry you here." the woman said, as if she could tell what Yuhana was thinking. "I gave him some of your rice as payment."

"It's just as well, I can't eat it." Yuhana told her. The woman looked strange. It wasn't because she was old, her features just didn't seem normal. Yuhana squinted her eyes. Perhaps her vision was leaving her as well.

"I am from the north." She told her in response to her stares. "My name is Ikuno. "

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare." Yuhana apologized. "Why are you here?" she asked her, then closed her mouth quickly. If she spoke much more, she knew she would be sick again.

"You seem to be feeling unwell. I came here from a village some miles away, further toward the east of the island. It was getting too dangerous there for me, and no one really pays attention to the people on these islands. They just throw us out here and forget us." she said. "If you are unwell, I thought I could help you here at your home and perhaps stay until I find a home here of my own."

After the wave of nausea passed, Yuhana gave a weak laugh. "Well, you can have mine after I die. That's how I got it. I really don't believe that I will live much longer with this disease." she told her sadly. She was certain this disease would kill her before long. She wondered what it was.

Ikuno threw her head back and laughed heartily. "Well that's too bad." she said, still laughing. "Tell me, how long have you had this disease? A few weeks? You become dizzy, and the smell of things makes you ill? Am I correct?" she asked.

"You know what it is?" Yuhana asked. Perhaps there was a cure for it, if it was something Ikuno had seen before.

"My dear, you are not diseased." she said, laughing again. "And yes, I have seen it before, many times. As a matter of fact, I have had it many times. It will pass in a few more weeks, and then your belly will begin to swell." She told her. "This kind of sickness happens often to a woman who is carrying a child."

Yuhana's head began to spin again, and the sickness welled up with a vengeance. A child? She fought back tears, remembering again her life with her siblings. She didn't want to end up like her mother, with children she couldn't feed. It was hard enough to get by with just her and Kenru when he was around. What would he think? Would he be angry with her again?

"Try and rest for now." Ikuno said. "I will make some rice, you must try and eat even a little, and drink some water." She told her. Yuhana dreaded the thought of food. Even just the thought of it made her ill. She managed to get a few bites of rice and some water down that night, and she fell asleep again early. She seemed to be constantly exhausted. She was glad Ikuno had shown up. Perhaps her luck wasn't going as bad as she thought.

A few days later, Kenru was back again. He had left before she had fallen ill, so he was surprised when he came in and saw someone else in the house, and Yuhana lying down. "Who the hell are you?" he asked when he saw Ikuno. "And what the hell are you doing lying down in the middle of the day? You getting lazy or something?" he asked, feeling the blood rising to his face. The last thing he had wanted was to come home to this shit. What was she thinking? Ikuno spoke up.

"I'm afraid the young lady hasn't been well." she said to him politely. "I am only here to help care for her." she said.

"I didn't ask you, you old bitch." he growled. He looked down at Yuhana. She seemed reluctant to even look at him, let alone speak to him. He wasn't about to put up with that kind of behavior, letting some old hag he didn't know tell him the business of his house while she sat by.

"She is with child." Ikuno told him. "This illness will pass soon, so you needn't worry."

Kenru felt as if someone had just kicked him in the gut. A kid? That was the last thing he wanted or needed. He surely hadn't been counting on that. The thought of some little brat running around screaming and crying made him nearly irate. His temper got the better of him and he pulled Yuhana up by the arm from where she lay. She was sick, he could tell by the look on her face, but he was too incensed at the time to care. Again, he let fly with the back of his hand. She barely seemed to notice. Ikuno got up from where she was sitting, but said nothing.

He looked at her and then back at Yuhana. "Get rid of it." he hissed, his teeth barred.

"Now now, young man, you shouldn't be sewing seeds if you want no harvest." Ikuno said, stepping in. "Perhaps you should have thought of that."

Kenru was close to rage after her bold statement. Who was she to talk to him like that, and stick her damn nose where it didn't belong? He started to wheel on her, but something stopped him short. Yuhana spoke, and he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it was very clear.

"Go to hell." She said. "Do you really think I would put myself through such pain for you, you ignorant bastard? I've already suffered enough with this because of your pleasure, so don't come in here now and demand I pay further." Somehow, she had become terribly angry at what he had said. She knew that saying something like that to him was likely to send him into a rage like she had never seen before, but she didn't care. She was shaking with anger herself. It just wasn't fair.

Even Kenru was surprised at his reaction. Instead of flying into a rage, he felt almost proud of her. He laughed, but it still held some malice. "So, having my kid in you give you a little bit of fire?" he asked. "Good. It's about time. But don't think I'll let something like that slide again." He said, letting her fall back onto the futon. He left without another word.

The months passed, and summer came again. Yuhana was miserable with it. Her time was near, and the heat made her suffering almost unbearable. She was certain that actually bearing the child couldn't be worse than living in the heat while barely able to move. Her entire body seemed to be swollen. Relief came sooner than she had expected; her pains came suddenly and did their work quickly. She had been gathering seaweed on the shore before she realized what was happening. She, Ikuno, and Yuki, a new neighbor, had gone to the water's edge in the rain to avoid the relentless sun.

Kenru was returning from another excursion, but Yuki stopped him in the street.

"Mr. Kenru, please hurry! You must come with me!" she had shouted, pulling him by his hand. Angrily, he followed her down the hill, perturbed that his rest and relaxation had been cut short after his time away. He hadn't returned with much of any value, which aggravated him all the more. When he did get to the beach however, he saw something he didn't expect. Yuhana lay on the beach, seemingly unconscious, with a tiny infant on her chest, who was howling his disdain for the cold rain and open air. He carried them both back to their home, Yuki and Ikuno following. When he saw the baby boy, small and scrawny though he was, something like pride stirred in him. At least, that was what he guessed it to be. It wasn't something he had felt very often in his life.

Yuhana woke a few hours later. She could barely remember what had happened. She remembered a lot of pain, but it seemed to her that she had become lost in it, swallowed up as if by the sea. She turned her head, and a little bundle lay next to her. She looked at they tiny boy's sleeping face, and she was struck at just how much he looked like Kenru. His face wasn't as long, and his features perhaps a bit softer, but there was no denying is lineage, that was certain. He even scowled as he slept. She wondered how she would feel when she finally saw the child, and her fist feeling was amazement. For a while she wondered if there could actually be a child, a real child, in her body. She had her answer now.

"His name is Mugen." Kenru said, leaning against the far wall.

Mugen? She had never heard that name, and had hoped to name the child after one of her siblings. But she knew that there was no use with Kenru. If he had named the boy Mugen, then he would remain so.

"Mugen." She said, trying the name out on her own voice. It didn't sound bad, and it meant good things. She hoped it would bring him luck.


	6. Chapter 6

_**AN**: Sorry for the long break in updating, but I've been quite busy between working and taking care of my baby daughter. Hopefully this chapter won't suck too bad, my brain seems to stay fried these days. Thanks for reading and pleeezz review!!_

Yuhana sat and stirred the rice while keeping an eye on her infant son lying nearby. It was fall now, and the summer heat had eased a little. She was still quite exhausted from little Mugen's wakefulness day and night, it seemed the need to sleep made him angry, as he cried terribly for hours when he became tired. Ikuno assured her that he would settle down soon, but somehow Yuhana doubted it. He turned his head to her and gave her a beaming smile, and she couldn't help smile in return. As difficult as taking care of him was, his smiles and coos made her happy. However, every time she saw the tiny boy smile, it seemed a thorn stuck into her heart, knowing what his life would be like growing up in that terrible place. She wished with all her heart that she could take him away somewhere, but she knew that was impossible.

"Aren't you done with that yet?" Kenru asked as he entered the hut. He was gone more now that there was a baby around, his temper didn't mix well with a demanding infant. Every time he complained of his son's crying, Yuhana bit back the urge to inform him that it was his own fault, since Mugen had inherited his temperment from him.

Ikuno came in shortly after Kenru, to occupy the baby so Yuhana could take a break and eat. She picked him up happily and little Mugen cooed and gurgled in response. Yuhana smiled at the pair as she handed Kenru his bowl of rice, and was glad that they had a little extra food in the past several weeks. She still didn't ask him where and how he got the things he used to make a living, and she felt it would be best to keep it that way. She did wonder if it was just by chance or if he tried to provide more for them due to the baby, but she knew if it was so he would never admit it. It was probably a little too romantic for Kenru anyway.

"So old woman, how did you end up in this shithole anyway?" Kenru asked. He had become a little more used to her, and at least tried to be tolerant of her, sometimes even something like friendly, as he was now.

Ikuno smiled at Mugen as she spoke. "I was a young bride, and my jealousy burned hot, getting me into trouble." she said, her voice rather sing song as she faced the baby boy.

"What do you mean?" Yuhana said, looking up from her rice.

"I found out my new husband already had a lover, and became angry when I found them together at our home. I'm afraid I attacked the young girl he was with, wounding her badly. So, they sent me away. But, after a few years, I realized my mistake." she said

"Is that right?" Kenru asked. "You finally figure out it was a waste of your time?"

"No, I realized that I should have gone after _him_." Ikuno said with a laugh. "Youth is often the very essence of ignorance." she expounded.

She and Yuhana laughed, and Kenru held back, though he looked very much like he could have chuckled. After dinner was over, she left and they were all alone again, for the first time in what seemed like quite a while. Mugen went to sleep rather easily that night, and Yuhana thought it may be due to the cool night air. Everyone was uncomfortable and irriated in the terrible heat of summer, and she guessed that a baby was no different.

"He's a mean little bastard, huh?" Kenru asked her as he cast a glance at his sleeping son. He sounded rather proud, and Yuhana wasn't surprised that he would find it a good quality. "That's good, it'll make him a survivor."

"'Mean' is not the word I would use. He's just a baby, but he does show some temper at times." _At times_ was an understatement, but she didn't feel like playing up Kenru's sense of pride at his son's defiance. She was glad he didn't despise the child, but she knew the boy would need as much stability as he could possibly get in such as place as they lived.

"Well, I'm kinda stumped." he said, scratching his head and looking lazily at her. "What am I gonna do with ya now...sure don't need anymore of that around." he said nodding toward the dozing Mugen.

Yuhana groaned inside her mind. She knew where this was leading, and she wouldn't have minded except for the fear of another child. Kenru had, of course, put it rudely, but he wasn't wrong. They didn't need anymore children. She turned and looked again at where Mugen slept. The visions of her little brother and sister still haunted her mind, and it was only worse now that she knew the love for her own child. Her thoughts were interrupted.

Kenru had walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "I'm sure I can figure somethin' out." he said huskily in her ear, pulling her toward their futon.

Fall turned into winter, and winter into spring again, although it could barely be noticed. Mugen was beginning to crawl, and he was infinitely happy to have his own freedom. He had been quite aggravated while trying to learn how, but didn't give up easily. Yuhana felt like most of her life was now encompassed with making sure he wasn't getting into something dangerous; he thought nothing of crawling right under the mat that covered the door and going right outside. It seemed that he was afraid of nothing.

Kenru came home less and less, and when he did his mood was almost always sour. Yuhana had tried to ask him about it one night, but he snapped at her to mind her own business. He had seen him talking with strange men in the street on more than one occassion, and the conversations never looked very friendly. They seemed to be discussing some kind of business, and Kenru had come home with many wounds a few times now. Yuhana fought to say nothing, her hands shaking as she cleaned and bandaged the wounds as best she could. She didn't want anything bad to happen to him, and she wasn't sure if she truly cared for him or if she was just afraid of what would happen to her and Mugen if he never came back.


	7. Chapter 7

_AN: Continuing on…sorry for the long delay…I have a 7 month old myself who is teething and crawling as of a week ago. Whew…._

Summer came to it's peak and the unbearable heat and humidity was worsening by the day on the island. Mugen was beginning to walk to and fro around the hut now, and though he fell from time to time, only became angry and got up. Yuhana remembered these times somewhat from her brother, but at that time she had spent a lot of nights sleeping in the street, as her mother was too cross to have her in the house most days and nights as well.

Yuki, who lived beside Ikuno and came with her from time to time, had joined them in their day's chores again. Yuhana liked her a lot, she was a quiet and even tempered girl, if a little flighty. She was never certain what she had done to garner the punishment of exile, but she lived with a man named Maso, who had been exiled for murdering customer of the restaurant he ran back on the main island. He had been spared his life on the grounds that it was self defense, but Maso still had a short temper. He and Kenru seemed to get along relatively well.

"I wonder when I will have a child of my own." Yuki said dreamily, watching Mugen toddle around the small house.

"Be careful what you wish for, it's different when you have to feed one." Ikuno said, casting a sideways glance at the young girl. Yuhana wondered how she could manage her oblivious outlook on life, considering where they lived. Maso took good care of her, but "good care" was a loose term in the poor colony.

Yuhana silently agreed with Ikuno; Mugen was eating rice on his own now (he insisted) and made quite a mess at mealtimes. It was quite a chore to pick the rice up off the floor and wash it again and again from his endeavors. There was certainly no room to waste even a grain. She tried to help the small boy as much as she could, but he didn't take well to that either. She was amazed at times he didn't just take his wobbly little legs to the seaside and catch his own fish. It wouldn't have surprised her.

"Maso says he wants a son." Yuki said. "If his son ate as much as he did, we would run out of food for sure!" she laughed. Yuhana smiled politely at her. She constantly saw the same group of men going and coming from Maso's home, and it seemed as if they worked for him in some way, as they often brought him things like food and valuables. She had thought about mentioning to Kenru that perhaps he might work for Maso, but she hadn't seen enough of him lately to really speak with him.

A strange feeling welled up in Yuhana's chest again, and she began to cough forcefully. It had been like this for a few months now, something seemed to be trying to force it's way out of her lungs. It had gotten worse in the past few weeks with the peak of humidity. She always seemed to feel exhausted, but she brushed that aside as it was nothing new since Mugen was born. Sometimes at night, she burned and sweated, but she tried as well to chalk it up to the weather conditions. After she recovered, she looked to see Ikuno casting her a wary eye. Before she could say anything, Kenru appeared in the doorway.

"Alright, pack your shit up and clear out. I need a word with the old lady." he told them. "I'm hardly ever here, but every time I come back, your asses are always sitting around my house. I better not be feeding them, either." he warned, although he knew that Yuhana knew better. In his own way, he was half joking his wife's friends. They left with a silent smile, as they heard no real aggravation in his tone.

Mugen stood and stared up at the man, chewing on his chubby fingers. After a moment, he walked over to him and held up his arms. Kenru looked down at him and gave him an incredulous look. "Kid, you must be nuts." he said, shooing him away. "I ain't got time for all that right now." Yuhana handed him the small rag dog she had made for him, and he grabbed it and sat down to play.

"Somethin' I need to talk to you about." he said as he sat down with her. "If something ever happens to me," he started, drawing close, his voice low, "I have a stash on the island for you and the rat. There are directions to it buried under the left corner of the house if you ever need them, but don't touch them until you do." he told her. His face looked haggard and thin, and Yuhana was worried. He had always had a certain hard quality about his lean features, but now he was beginning to seem tired.

"I don't know what you do but I know it is…dangerous." she said. "That much is obvious. If something were to..happen to you, how would I know?" she asked.

"Don't I always come back?" he asked, his patience wearing. He never had enough to sustain a real conversation. "If I don't come back in six months every time I leave, do what you have to." he told her, getting up. Mugen came and crawled into his mother's lap then, leaning against her to fall asleep. Kenru looked down at him.

"When did he start that?" he asked, referring to his walking.

"A few weeks ago." Yuhana said tiredly. "Perhaps you can take him to the shore in the morning to play, if you're still around." she offered, desperate for a break to recover some strength. The feeling that was becoming so familiar came back, and she stifled another coughing fit.

"I ain't got time for that." he said, as if she had lost her mind. "What the hell's the matter with you anyway? You're clothes are starting to hang off you."

Yuhana looked down, not realizing that she had lost any weight, indeed she barely had any to lose before she became as thin as a bamboo cane. "I guess chasing Mugen has really run me ragged." she said, hoping she told the truth, although her intuition told her she was not.

"Have you ever thought about talking to Maso about working for him?" she asked as he started to walk away. "The men that come and go at his home seem to do well." she told him.

"I can't afford to leave what I'm doing now." he said, his tone turning dark.

"But if you could do better by working with Maso, why not just do that?" she asked "It seems less dangerous." she said.

"Look, none of this is your damn business." he said, getting angry. "I'd barely get two steps thru Maso's door before I was waylaid. I don't even know how many assholes I'd have to cut down before it was over, and Maso's shit ain't worth it." he told her. He reached down and cupped his hand under her chin and around her face. "I've spilled enough blood for you to take a bath in for the rest of your life." he growled, letting go.

"Why?" she half shouted. "Why did you ever come back? Why do you still? Why not leave us to starve?"

He turned and looked at her over his shoulder, the mat over the door half lifted in his hand. She didn't know how to read the look on his face; the closest thing she could read in it was sadness. She thought she would get a hand to her face for her defiance, but he only turned and left. She didn't know what to think.

"_Why did you ever come back? Why do you still? Why not leave us to starve?" _Kenru closed his eyes and growled to himself. Those were good questions. Why didn't he? They didn't mean anything to him, it was just a place to sleep and someone to share his bed and cook his food….and the kid…Kenru clenched his fist and cursed as he walked. He hated when he couldn't finish his thoughts the way he wanted.


	8. Chapter 8

Winter had come to the small island now and food stores were running low for Yuhana and her son. Mugen was becoming angry when he didn't get his fill, not understanding why he couldn't eat as much as he wanted. Yuhana had long ago stopped producing milk, so there was no saving grace for him. Just as she had done for her younger siblings only a few years prior, she went hungry so her son could eat. Finally, just as she was about to give in and look for the directions Kenru had mentioned, he returned to the home.

It was late at night when Yuhana heard footsteps approaching the small hut, but they seemed to be stumbling. She turned to face the door from her futon, just in time to see Kenru stagger through the door and collapse. She lit a lamp and rushed over to him and stopped short when she saw his condition. He was covered in blood, and she couldn't tell if it was his own or not. She reached down to see if he was still alive, and he was, still clutching a sword in his hand. Even unconscious, he wouldn't let go of it's handle. Slowly, she began to clean him up and find out where his wounds were. She fell asleep shortly after, exhausted herself.

The sound of stirring woke her later in the night, and she saw that he was starting to wake. She reached over and shook him gently, to try and bring him to. Something happened then that she did not expect. In an instant, he was to his feet, a hand around her neck. He slammed her into the far wall with terrible force, his sword raised to her throat. She looked into his eyes and what she saw there horrified her. His eyes were different, unseeing, like an animal in the heat of the kill.

"You stupid bitch..what were you thinking!?" he spat out, just as he awoke completely. He quickly let her go as she slumped to the floor. "I could have cut your head off."

Yuhana's heart was slamming hard against her ribs, and she could barely get her breath. Her coughing began in earnest, and she was barely able to stop, finally coughing blood onto the smooth dirt of the floor. It glinted in the light of the small fire that was lit, and she could finally raise her head to look at Kenru. His face was different now, a mask of foreign emotion.

"I was only trying to help." she rasped, her hand absently and gingerly touching her throat. "You were in such bad shape…"

"Bad shape my ass." Kenru growled. "You're in a hell of worse shape than me." he said, his words laced with something like concern. She looked up at him again, and his face had the same strange look of sadness and regret upon it. She really didn't know what to make of it. Mugen stirred in his place beside his mother, awakening slightly to the sound of voices and his mother's absence. Kenru walked over, and tossed a ragged cover over the boy. The winter could hardly be called cold, but there was a slight chill in the ocean air filtering into the home.

"Can you even get up?" Kenru asked, his voice returning to the more disdainful tone. Yuhana was too tired to answer. She merely sat on the floor and stared at the fire. Kenru reached down and pulled her up by the wrist, wrapping an arm around her waist. He half dragged her back to where she was sleeping, lowering her down next to Mugen again. "Go back to sleep." he ordered, and she did quickly. Kenru sat down beside the sleeping pair, and it was his turn to stare into the waning fire.

She was dying. He knew it. She was much frailer now than when he had returned the time before, her skin was clinging to her bones and now she was coughing blood. He doubted he would live much longer either, as much trouble as he'd had with his last outing. The crew he ran with was becoming much bolder, but that also meant more danger. He needed the better hauls now more than ever.

He thought of the life he had lived as he looked at Yuhana and Mugen. He had never really paid attention to why or how he did the things he did. A familiar feeling welled up inside him, a sick and angry feeling. He guessed it was hate. He had never quite known where that feeling belonged, but he guessed it was to himself now. No matter what he did, he killed. He killed the men he was supposed to kill, but now he realized he had killed Yuhana with his ill treatment, and ultimately Mugen as well after they were both gone. He was barely more than a helpless infant, it would be almost impossible for him survive without them. He clutched his sword until he thought either it or his hand would break, and stared into the fire, although his eyes stung. He had been strong all his life, a survivor, but what had it gotten him?

Morning dawned, but Yuhana slept on. Mugen woke, and was hungry, and began trying to wake his mother. She stirred slightly, barely able to raise from her bed. She slowly began pulling things together to cook what little rice they had, but was surprised when she opened the box. It was full now. She sighed, and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. She would be able to eat as well. She looked around for Kenru, and found him in the corner, watching them. She hadn't noticed his presence.

"I have some more in a bag under the house." he told her flatly. He stared ahead, his arm propped on his knee, the other hand holding his sword. His sharp features and long face were accentuated by the early morning shadows and the hair that hung haphazardly down to his chin. He almost looked like a ghost. Yuhana said nothing. She gave Mugen his food, and helped him as best she could to eat it. She had found that if she left in quite a bit of the water, he would turn it up and drink it and make less of a mess. After she was done, she became terribly drowsy, it was difficult for her to stay awake. She felt a hand on her shoulder, pushing her down toward the bed.

"Go back to sleep, I'll manage the brat." Kenru said, his tone strangely emotionless.

"What will you do with him?" she asked, amazed, although it came out sounding more frightened.

"I'm going to sell him off." he scoffed, because of her tone. "I'll just dump him on Yuki for a while. She's stupid and likes kids." he said as he propped Mugen under an arm and started to leave. Yuhana was too tired to argue.

"Miss Yuhana, are you awake?" Yuki's voice asked as Yuhana awoke from her long nap. She opened her eyes to see that Mugen was sleeping nearby, taking his afternoon nap. Yuki sat next to her on the floor, tending her fire. Ikuno was there too, sitting beside her.

"Where's Kenru?" she asked, her voice still rough.

"He said he was leaving…" Yuki said, her voice sounding somewhat confused. "He didn't say when he would be back." she told her, as if it had suddenly dawned on her that Kenru hadn't left her with clear instructions.

"You need some extra rest, so I will stay here with you again for a while." Ikuno said, just as she had when they had first met. And, just as then, Yuhana made no argument. Just as then, when Ikuno said those words, it was fact, and no argument would have been heard regardless. Yuhana coughed again, and she tasted blood. She swallowed hard against the bitter metallic taste, and the room was quiet. All she heard was the never ending sound of the surf upon the shore.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: **_Thanks for reading and reviewing! Any suggestions are appreciated! I have a baby sitter for the night as I have to go to my sister's wedding tomorrow._

Yuhana was suddenly aware that something was different. Her clothes felt strange and heavy, and the scent of the room was different. She sat up as she opened her eyes and gasped slightly as she looked around the room and down at herself. Everything had changed. She had never seen a place like the one she was in now, only heard of it. The room was large and clean, with fresh tatami mats on the floor, and beautiful scrolls on the walls. In front of her were a large set of rice paper doors, opening onto a small garden. A breeze floated in, comfortably warm and soothing.

"Did you fall asleep again? You need to quit being such a lazy ass." a voice said from behind her.

"I…" Yuhana started, but she couldn't force the words out. She was looking up at Kenru, and she almost didn't recognize him. He wore the traditional dress of a nobleman, with his hair in a topknot. His features were still hard, but not nearly as rough, and he was quite a large man with sufficient weight on him. He was giving her an almost quizzical look, and she knew he was only poking his own kind of fun. Did he even do that?

A noise suddenly caught her attention. She looked down and Mugen lay beside her, still dozing. His clothes and hair were actually clean, and he looked peaceful. He was mumbling in his sleep, and rolled over against her. She looked at the clothes she was wearing, it was a lovely but simple silk kimono. A hand strayed to her hair, carefully styled and placed atop her head. Everything seemed so quiet, no noise of people constantly bustling about and clamoring outside. She felt rested, not exhausted as she usually did, and she wasn't hungry.

Panic seized her. Was she dead? Had she passed into the other world? Were Kenru and Mugen dead as well? She looked around frantically, then found that she couldn't move. Things around her were fading, as she heard a noise she couldn't yet place. Her eyelids again lifted slowly. The fire was in front of her, it's embers barely glowing. Outside, two people seemed to be arguing over a night of gambling gone bad. It was their shouting that had awakened her. Mugen was there beside her, mumbling in his sleep as he had in her dream. Tears slipped from her eyes as she lay back down. Her body was wracked with fatigue, but surprisingly she wasn't terribly hungry. Even when she didn't eat all day, she seldom felt hungry anymore. She was glad for it.

"I wish we could live in that world together." she whispered to her sleeping son. She brushed his hair away from his face. He grimaced somewhat in his sleep, and she guessed it was from hunger. Of course his appetite was growing with him, although he was able to eat more with her eating less. "I wish that life could be easier and kinder to you than it has been to me." she told him, as she faded back into a thankfully dreamless sleep.

"Do you think these herbs will help Yuhana get better?" Yuki asked Ikuno, "Maso told me that he got them in on one of his shipments and didn't need them." she told her.

"They may ease her suffering some, but they will not make her well." she said to the young girl.

"What kind of herbs will make her better?" Yuki asked, obliviously.

"There is no herb that can cure her. The only thing that can be done for her now is to help her and try and ease her suffering what little we can until she passes on." Ikuno told her rather bluntly. In truth, she wished that Yuki had stayed home today. Yuhana was getting worse rapidly. She knew she would not live much longer.

"No!" Yuki cried. "But, Yuhana can't die! What about little Mugen?" she asked. But her question went unanswered. She followed Ikuno bleakly into Yuhana's house.

"Make some rice." Ikuno ordered, after they stepped into the dim light. Yuki glumly went about the chore, and Yuhana woke to the sound.

"Ikuno, have you ever seen a noble house?" she asked weakly.

"I was a servant in one before I came here. How I envied them, with their beautiful home and clothes. Everything seemed so perfect in their clean and orderly life." she told her. "Why do you ask such a thing?"

"I..dreamed of one earlier." she said quietly. "I just wondered if what I dreamed was anything like real life for them."

"Well, in a noble house, everything must be kept in it's proper place and order at all times. The men and women dress in beautiful silk clothing, and nothing about their appearance must be out of place. They even keep their gardens this way. Not a weed is allowed to grow there." she said, a hint of nostalgia and wonder tracing her words.

Yuhana smiled. Then it was like her dream. Maybe, if she was lucky, when she died things would be like that wherever it was she ended up. "You all mustn't come and do all these things for me. You will make me a lazy woman." she told them, thinking of Kenru's comment in her dream.

"Nonsense. You've got your hands full enough with what's beside you." Ikuno said, waving a hand at Mugen. Yuki was still quiet.

Yuhana ate a few bites, and gave the rest to Mugen along with his when he woke. Her breathing was becoming more shallow, and her complexion more pale. Yuki took Mugen outside to play, and Ikuno sat in relative silence with Yuhana. Yuhana looked as if she might doze again. Ikuno was gripping her ragged kimono somewhat tightly, and she suddenly realized that she was on edge. She had seen a lot of death in her life, including some of her own children, and she felt now as if she was going to lose another.

She had seen many girls like Yuhana come to the island out of bad circumstance, and they all sooner or later fell prey to the harsh life there. Yuhana was the only one she had seen that had kept true to themselves. And now, she was dying. Ikuno wished it was her; she was so tired of losing the people she cared for. She supposed she would care for Mugen until the end of her days, which certainly wouldn't last until he was big enough to fend for himself.

Yuhana woke again to the gray shapes of her home. She realized that she had dozed again, and now it was nearly dark. Ikuno brought Mugen back to her, and he lay down beside her to sleep. He rolled over against her, and she put her arm around him, fighting back tears. She dreaded the day that her illness forced her to leave him behind.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: **_Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing!! I always love getting reviews, so know that if you leave me one you make my day a little happier. I'm trying to be more consistent with my updating so please bear with me. Any suggestions or opinions on the story are welcome_!

Spring came back to the island with a burst of heat; Yuhana had been a little better in the weeks prior, and seemed to have more energy. Kenru was still gone, but he had left enough to take care of them with relative comfort. She still didn't feel like eating very much. Yuki and Ikuno were still around much of the time, and it helped her handle Mugen every day.

"I'm so glad you are feeling better lately Yuhana!" Yuki said to her. "I'm sure you will get well soon." she told her.

Yuhana only smiled. Sometimes, Yuki's constant optimism made her feel better, even though she knew it was generally misplaced. She had almost gotten used to coughing all the time, and she coughed up blood much more now than she was allowing her friends to know. She wondered if her poor appetite had anything to do with the amounts of blood she swallowed every day.

"Come little Mugen, let's go down to the shore and look for sea stars!" Yuki said, bending down slightly to hold the little boy's hand. He toddled happily through the doorway with his companion, and Yuhana looked after him sadly. She was beginning to fear now that she wouldn't wake up when she lay down at night. She wondered every time she saw him before she closed her eyes if it would be the last time.

"We will always look after the boy." Ikuno said.

"Thank you." Yuhana whispered, tears sliding silently down her face; she knew what Ikuno meant. She tried to stop it, but found that she couldn't, and suddenly her body was shaking with sobs. She pressed her hand tight against her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, hot water spilling over her fingers. Something about her friend's words had truly made her situation real to her in a new way. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and Ikuno had come to sit behind her, trying to comfort her in whatever small way. She reached back and clutched her hand tight until her crying had eased.

A few nights later, a driving storm thrashed the rickety ship that Kenru was aboard. Few lanterns would stay lit, and the men on board were arguing amongst themselves. Their looting of passing ships hadn't been going well, as word had spread among the fleets of the danger of skirting too close to the islands. They were having to go further and further out to sea to bring in any haul worth their time. Now, in the driving rain and wind, they could barely see anything. On this night, they had gone into unfamiliar territory at the behest of Koji, one of the crewmen who was said to have inside information on the shipping routes. Their ventures this outing hadn't garnered them very much of anything with worth.

"You stupid bastard!" their 'captain' yelled. "You dragged us all the way out here for nothing! We can't even see a ship if there's one nearby!" he shouted above the storm. Kenru sat back and watched the men squabble.

"I'm tellin' ya, trade ships always come through this way on their way to Naha. I've got _first hand _information." he said cooly.

"Just where in the hell did you get this _information_ of yours?" the leader asked. "I think you're full of sh..." he said, but his words were interrupted.

"Look boss, I see a light up ahead, it must be a ship! There's no land around here!" one of the crew shouted, pointing just off the port bow. "We can probably get to it if we handle the ship hard!" he told him.

"See, and you thought you couldn't trust me." Koji said with a smug and nearly toothless grin. Kenru looked hard at the new crewman. Something about him just wasn't right; he was too confident and cocky. He wasn't nearly as desperate and hardened as the rest of them.

The captain fought with the ship and the rain began to slack off. Soon, the ship was sailing much more smoothly and they were making fast progress toward the ship in the distance. It seemed to be getting closer at quite a good speed. Kenru watched it closely. He had never seen them gain on another ship so quickly. The rest of the crew shouted with joy at their good fortune. Then, when they were only a short distance away, Kenru realized what was happening.

"You _idiots!_" He shouted. "Are you blind? We're comin' up on them so fast because they're anchored!" he told them, as some turned with confused looks toward him.

"Even better!" Kenji shouted to them. "They're sitting ducks! They must be in trouble already; they'll be easy pickin' for us!"

"How do you know all this crap?" Kenru asked him, staring at him with distrust. "All this looks a little too good to be true to me." he said.

"Prepare to board ship!" the captain called, before he could say more. Koji gave him another of his smug grins and turned away, heading for the group getting ready to attack the unsuspecting ship just in front of them. They pulled alongside it, and saw the lanterns on board lit, but no one seemed to be out on deck. Suddenly, a door burst open on the side of the ship's cabin. Men came pouring out, rifles in hand and began to swarm the vessel that had come to raid it.

There weren't very many of them on board the little makeshift ship, and they were overtaken in only a few moments. Amid the gunfire and chaos, Kenru saw Koji slinking away toward the larger ship. In a haze of rage, he ran toward him and grabbed him, throwing him to the deck.

"You piece of shit!" he hissed in his face. "If we're going down, then your lyin' ass is goin' with us!" he said, plunging his sword through his heart before he could beg. No sooner had he done it, than a strange feeling ripped through his midsection, and he looked down to find blood spreading from a hole just under his sternum. He tried to take a step, but he stumbled and fell against the railing of the ship, sliding down beside the body of their betrayer. He tried to draw quick breaths, but they were ragged and he felt dizzy.

An image suddenly flashed to his mind, and he didn't see the chaos around him anymore. It was of Yuhana, standing on the beach the first night they were together. He had found her there after waking up alone, and had followed her footsteps to the shore. She had looked so different the last time he had seen her. At that time, she wasn't ill or worn down by the harsh life of the island. He had thought secretly to himself that night what a lucky bastard he was to have found her. It seemed to be the only bit of luck he had come by in the ragged existence he had called a life.

Then, another scene, of her lying on the beach, just after the boy was born. Their boy. _His_ boy. _Mugen_. He had given him that name to give him strength, so nothing could bring him down. He was angry, again. He was going to die here on this miserable piece of wood, like a common fish skewered by a fishing spear. He hoped Mugen would make a better end someday. He felt like he was drowning, and everything seemed to be turning black and fading away. After a moment, he could see _something_, and it seemed as though there were people standing around him, but he was in a different place.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: **_Thanks for reading everyone! Review and feedback would be greatly appreciated, so feel free to leave either for me. _

Yuhana made sure to wait until she couldn't hear anyone around before she carefully crawled underneath the house. It was late into the night, and although there was constant activity outside, she waited until there was a lull to go out. Kenru was still gone; in fact none of the men that usually left with him had returned. She had thought about asking Maso if he had heard anything through whatever contacts he had, but she didn't. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the truth, her heart already held it's suspicions.

She felt around until she found the crudely concealed bag, and began to dig the earth away from it. It was a tight fit under the floor boards, and she was already gasping for air in the difficult position she had to assume to maneuver under the tiny shack. She grasped the top of the cloth where it was tied, and carefully backed herself into the open air again. Giving another look around, she carried it inside as quickly as she could. She sat it down next to the fire pit before collapsing onto the floor herself. It seemed this time she would never stop coughing, and there was more blood than she could swallow this time. Just when she thought it wouldn't ease, she drew a few long, grating breaths and steadied herself.

Mugen had awoken to the sound and was staring at his mother quietly. He came over to where she sat and leaned against her, still unusually quiet. She put her arm around him, and an empty despair washed over her. She turned around and looked at the small boy, and wondered if he would ever even remember her. In this place, would he ever believe there had been someone that had loved him? Would he even have any idea what the word even meant, let alone what it felt like? She had never really thought of what she wanted for her children until he was born, indeed she had never really thought of having children at all. Her life had been much as it was now, survival from one day to the next. She knew though, that it certainly would never have been this life that she wished for him.

"My son you must listen closely to me, even though you may never remember my words." she told him, her voice even and clear. "This life will be cruel to you, as well as the people in it. You will do what you must to survive, and no one can judge you for that. But please remember, no matter how terrible things become, do not let yourself become an animal, with no conscious or knowledge of what is right. Push yourself as hard as you must, but do not turn away love if it should ever find you, in whatever form." she said, her son's eyes looking intently at hers. "Please try and remember in a time long from now, that there was once someone that held you in their heart above all else." Mugen continued to stare at her until she lay down next to him and he followed suite.

Yuhana woke the next day to the sounds of Yuki and Ikuno's voices. Mugen was already up of course, and she jerked herself into full consciousness, unaware as to how long she had been asleep. Apparently, they had just arrived as Yuki's next comment indicated.

"Where did you get all that rice Miss Yuhana?" Yuki exclaimed. She had forgotten to hide it when she brought it in the previous night, exhausted from the mere task of pulling it out from under the house.

"Quiet, you fool!" Ikuno nearly shouted at her. "Do you want thieves to come in here for your ignorance?" she asked her, clearly agitated.

"Kenru left it for me when he was last here." she said, her voice ragged. "I had to get it out last night, there was none left besides that."

Ikuno nodded her understanding, looking bleakly at the young girl before her. Yuhana wasn't sure if she looked bad, or if it was due to her rough voice or blood stained kimono from last night's coughing spell. It still seemed so hard for her to breathe, something must have been damaged. Her effort to breathe literally wracked her entire body, and she was quickly becoming exhausted by it having only been up for a few moments.

"Go ahead and rest again." Ikuno said, her look becoming more pained. "We'll look after Mugen." The thought of her previous comment returned to Yuhana's mind, and thoughts born of her fear formed in her mind. It was so hard to breathe.

"You will...look after him?" she asked, feeling disoriented.

"Just for today." Ikuno said, smiling sadly. "I'm sure you will feel better tomorrow."

Yuhana nodded, and unconsciousness washed over her again as she lay down. She seemed to drift in and out of consciousness vaguely throughout the day, and she woke up briefly as Mugen lay down beside her. It was dark outside already, and Yuki and Ikuno were leaving. They bid their farewells, and Ikuno looked back once more over her shoulder, her face still a mask of unease and sadness.

Sometime during the night she woke again, and saw Mugen still sleeping peacefully beside her. She tried to reach out for him, but found that she couldn't move. Her body didn't seem to obey her command, and she wasn't even sure that she was still breathing. It seemed that she was beginning to fade back into sleep, a dream coming almost immediately, although she could still slighty see her surroundings. But, they were fading away into something else, somewhere else. She seemed to be in an open grass plain, and she could see someone further ahead of her. She took a few steps forward and saw that it was Kenru.

Ikuno woke to the sound of something outside, an odd muffled sound, but one that she had heard many times in her long years. It was a crying child, wandering just outside in the street. It certainly wasn't the first time a child had walked aimlessly in search of food or parent on the island. She got up, deciding to at least see if it was a child she knew so that she could return it home. To her surprise, it was little Mugen. Frightened, she picked him up and ran to wake Yuki. While Maso wasn't pleased, Yuki came with her to Yuhana's home.

Upon entering, Ikuno saw Yuhana lying by the fire, but she could tell what had happened after taking a few steps toward her. Mugen had wandered into the street, upset that he had awakened and was unable to rouse his mother. It was as she had feared earlier; she could tell by Yuhana's state earlier that her time was short. Yuki gasped and covered her face, beginning to cry.

"Take the boy and go back to your home." Ikuno told her. "I will need Maso's help tonight." she said. "I am too old to build a pyre."

Maso came shortly afterward grumbling and cursing, but was a bit less agitated knowing it was better done at night than during the terrible heat of the day. After leaning some large pieces of driftwood onto the rocks by the shore, he made a makeshift bed big enough for Yuhana's body and lay her on top.

"I will go back for a torch." Ikuno said tiredly as she slowly made her way back up the hill. She went into her own house for a moment and retrieved something she hadn't used in more years than she could remember. Then, using a piece of driftwood she carried up from the shore, she wrapped an old rag around it and lit it in her own fire. She carried it back down, handing it to Maso, and Yuki was there holding Mugen with a tear stained face.

She sat down with the other item she had carried down with her, and Yuki looked at it in wonder. It seemed to be something akin to a shamisen only longer and bigger. "What is that?" she asked in a shaky voice, still holding Mugen.

"It's an instrument that somehow came to this island from my own land. It took me much trading to get it." she said, plucking at the strings to make sure of the sound she wanted. She began to play a tune that sounded like a lonely traveler. "It is a song for the dead." she told them. "To help them find their way to peace in the afterlife." The song carried on the wind along with Yuhana's ashes out to sea, while little Mugen looked on.


	12. Chapter 12

_AN: I know its been a while, but mommy brain has officially set in and its hard to get my brain to do anything creative. Feel free to review, it would be like giving me a Scooby snack! _

Mugen awoke during the night to scuffling and arguing. It wasn't a rare occurrence where he lived. It seemed people were always filing in and out of the small hut where he stayed with the big man named Maso and the woman named Yuki. After the old woman from before had gone to sleep and hadn't woken up, he had come to stay with them. It seemed like a long time ago, he could hardly remember her, except that she was old and played music sometimes. He could hear Maso's voice now, loud and angry, as usual. The other people were talking louder too. Unable to tune out the sound of their voices, he got up and peeked around the edge of the mat that was covering the doorway to where he slept in the back room. They all stood at the fire, shoving fingers at one another and grumbling. He went to lie back down, his stomach rumbling at him, and fell asleep again.

When he woke again it was quiet, and he rose and looked out into the main part of the little home. The room where he slept was only some boards nailed haphazardly onto the back of the house, with a doorway leading to it from inside. Maso generally used it for storage and Mugen sometimes slept leaning against bags of rice or other things. Hi stomach was really beginning to hurt him now. Everyone seemed to be gone, and the pot of rice from earlier was still over the fire. He went and checked to see if there was any left, and was happy to see that there was. He didn't hear the footsteps outside approaching, and Maso burst in, angry as soon as he saw what Mugen was doing.

"You thieving little rat!" he bellowed at him, picking him up by his ragged shirt. "I put a roof over your head and this his how you repay me, by sneaking food when I'm not looking!" he roared, throwing the boy to the ground.

"Maso please!" Yuki begged from behind him. "He's just a boy, he must have been hungry. You mustn't be so harsh with your son!" she told him. She sometimes called Mugen their son, as they had no children of their own. She had wanted to be a mother so badly, but so far it was a dream unfulfilled.

"You have given me no son!" he shouted at her, his wrath turning to his wife. "The only reason I keep this mongrel is because of your relentless begging!" he told her. "If I catch him eating my food behind my back again, he won't come back in this house! I'm tired of wasting my food on him!" he said, turning back toward Mugen. "Is that clear?" he asked, once again leveling a finger at the boy before walking outside. They could hear him grumbling as he walked away from the house again.

Mugen looked up at Yuki, who had tears streaking her face. She walked over to him slowly and held him to her. "I'm so sorry." she whispered to him, but he didn't return her embrace. He was angry. He didn't ask to come live at this house with them, Yuki had simply brought him there a few years earlier. Ever since then, he had worked for Maso every day, running errands, carrying things, whatever he asked. He was always hungry and people were always shouting at him. It just made him angry, instead of making him sad like it once had. He went back to his makeshift room and went back to sleep.

The next morning, Mugen got up and sat down by the fire where Yuki was making the morning meal. She picked up a bowl for him, but Maso stopped her before she could put anything in it. It was clear that his anger from the night before hadn't faded very much, as he glowered at the boy over his breakfast.

"Don't even think about it." he growled at Yuki. "He doesn't need anything to eat this morning, he should still be plenty satisfied from his fill last night." he told her.

"But, Maso…" Yuki started, a disapproving tone in her voice, "surely you can't be still angry over that." she said quietly.

"You heard what I said!" he said, his voice already becoming louder. "If you have a problem with it you both can get out!" Before anything else could be said, Mugen stood up and began to walk to the door of the hut.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Maso asked. "No one told you that you could just get up and leave. I got work for you to do today." he told him. "You better believe you're going to work off what you took from me last night."

"I'm going down to the ocean, to learn how to catch fish." he said, his tone disdainful.

Maso laughed a hearty laugh full of ridicule. "Is that so? Well, good luck with that." he said, waving him out the door. "You'll be back soon enough."

Yuki watched the boy walk out the door with sadness. It really wasn't fair the way Maso treated him. She almost felt that the anger he inflicted upon Mugen was really to punish her for not bearing him any children. He was resentful of it, and he took it out on the boy. At least, that was how she felt. She worried for him, going down to the shore on his own to try and do something that could be dangerous. He had stayed with them for almost five years now, and hadn't seemed to grow very much since then, still small for his age. Maso was more accepting at first, but as the years passed, his patience had grown thin as well.

Mugen stood on the hill above the shore and watched the other fisherman at work. He had watched them before as well. He was pretty sure of what he needed to do now, if only he could find a scrap of string or rope and a hook to use. He wandered along the beach for quite a while, until he found a small sliver of rope that looked to have come unwoven from a net. Then, after a while longer, he saw a rusty point sticking up from the sand. He pulled it out to find it was indeed an old hook, and he rubbed it against the rocks until it was sharp again. When he found a bug under a rock to use as bait, he went to a quiet patch of water among the rocks and threw in his line. He returned just as the sun set, his skin sunburned but with three fish on his line.

"Mugen!" Yuki exclaimed as he walked through the door, a defiant smirk on his face. She was surprised to see that he had done just as he had told them.

"Well, so you did have a bit of luck today, eh?" Maso asked, but Mugen could see the anger gleaming in his eyes. "You spent all day down at the ocean and didn't come back to work off your little snack last night like I said. Well then, since you took from me, I'll just do the same." he told them, reaching out to snatch the fish from the boy's hand.

"Give it back!" Mugen shouted, reaching for his hard won catch. Maso shoved the boy away, causing him to stumble backwards and fall.

"It's mine now, since you didn't come back to work off your food!" Maso told him.

Mugen got up and stared angrily at the man, but said nothing. Then, he turned and walked back toward the door he had just entered. The only reason he stayed in the miserable little hut was because Maso had given him food for working for him. Now, he didn't need that. He could get his own food. There wasn't any reason for him to stay there anymore.

"Mugen, where are you going?" Yuki asked frantically. She got no answer.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: _Well it looks like I'm going to be able to update a little sooner this time. Dial up doesn't offer a lot of entertainment and I'm actually feeling a little less brain dead. Maybe I should get out more often. Apologies for lack of dialogue, Mugen doesn't really have anyone to talk to regularly right now. Can I have reviews for Christmas?? I've been sooo good, it's unbelievable._

Disclaimer: Y'all know the drill.

The moon had risen and Mugen walked on. He stared downward at the dark shapes the moonlight made through the canopy of tress above him, transfixed by the strange patterns on the ground. His hand turned the hook in his pocket over and over absently, he had made sure to tuck his lucky fishing line into his ragged pants after his catch that day. He wondered how far away he was now from the village, the further the better, he thought disdainfully. That place had nothing to offer him but memories of a miserable life, and he was still a child. Things with Maso had always been the way they were that afternoon, the rotten bastard. He walked off the path to the edge of the dense foliage and looked down at the ocean crashing against the rocks below, the breaking water glowing eerily under the moon. He didn't know where the path he had been following went, and didn't care, as long as it was away.

In another place, an adult, one who cared for his wellbeing, might have gone after him, would have been out searching for him. But not here. He knew it as well as he knew the tides would rise and fall. Yuki would not in fear of her husband's wrath, and there was no one else. He was free now, to do whatever he wanted. No one could tell him what to do again. No one. Another waved crashed, and Mugen felt an empty feeling replace the elation of being free. It made him angry, what did it matter?

Had anyone ever cared for him? Not that he knew of. The old woman? He didn't know, and he had no parents. He decided when he was younger that they must be dead, he had never heard anyone speak of them. The other children on the island had mostly ignored him, as they did everyone who wasn't part of their particular pack. He was always too busy working for Maso to have friends anyway. Would he have friends in the future? He doubted it. What was the use in getting mixed up with other people? It certainly hadn't served him well so far.

Looking down at the surf, he noticed something near the shoreline. It looked like the skeleton of some huge, long dead beast, but after climbing down to investigate, he found that it was the remains of a small ship that had crashed there at some point. The rocks were especially craggy here, and they extended rather far out into the ocean at this particular jut of land. He began pulling off some of the boards that were still attached to one of the beams.

"Sorry boys, but you're gonna have to find some other junk to live under. This is mine now." he said to the small crabs and other creatures that scurried away to hide after having their home disturbed. "I may be having you for dinner later anyway." he said as an afterthought to the crabs.

He carried the boards one by one back up to the hill he had looked down from earlier. He leaned them next to each other against a tall rock by a stand of trees, a place to sleep and take shelter from the storms that came. He may as well stay here as anywhere else he had decided, at least here no one would bother him. After finishing his task, he went back to the shoreline to chase the crabs he had seen earlier. Finally, he caught them with his rock and pried their shells open with a piece of stick. His stomach hurt at first from the raw meat, but he ignored it, and stretched out on the sand to look at the stars above him.

They looked so far away, the clouds and stars too. The stars looked much smaller than the clouds, he wondered just how far away they were, or if they were really so small. If he were up there with them, what would he see down here? Anything? Yuki used to say that everyone's dead ancestors looked down on them from way up there and watched over them, but he didn't believe it. There was no way anyone could see anything from that far away. Everything would probably look like the sand on the shore from there.

He lay on the beach, and started to doze listening to the sound of the waves crashing. Somewhere between waking and sleeping, he remembered the sound of the music the old woman used to play now and then. He could barely remember it, but something about the sound of the ocean had brought it inadvertently to his mind. The empty feeling welled up again, and he was too tired then for it to make him angry. He could hear the lonely music somewhere in the back of his mind, and he thought that on the edges of his consciousness was a memory that he had once slept warmly at night. He closed his eyes tight, and willed the thoughts to cease. His dreams were fragmented that night, and the thought he heard Yuki calling him.

Weeks, and then months, passed on the island, and Mugen was alone. He wandered the wilds of the island as he pleased, and caught his food when he could. It was hardly to be called a comfortable existence, but he preferred it to his previous life. Whenever others passed that way, he stayed out of sight and quiet until they were gone. The last thing he needed to do was draw attention to himself. The seasons came and went, fading into one another, barely discernible. Mugen's shirt had torn finally one day, he was outgrowing his clothes. His pants barely were hanging on, and they were growing threadbare with holes beginning to form in the more worn places. One night a storm blew in from the east, and he shivered in the chill air that sometimes came from the ocean in winter. He huddled in his makeshift shelter that night and listened to the wind and rain howl.

He awoke later, sometime before dawn, to the sound of more crashing and what seemed to be voices clamoring. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the shore, but it was difficult to tell in the midst of the storm. The gale calmed around day break, and he went in search of the sounds he had heard a few hours earlier. He didn't have to look far. Below on the rocks, another ship had crashed, just as the one he made his home from had in the past. Bodies floated in the water, along with bits of wood and some of the cargo the ship had been carrying.

This ship had been small as well and he only saw three people who had succumbed to the shipwreck. Two were further out on the rocks, but one man had washed up on shore, his mouth open and his eyes rolling. Mugen frowned down at him. He must have drowned; everything seemed intact on him including his clothes. He looked at him for a few moments, and reached down, a thought having occurred to him.

"No offense buddy, but I need it more than you do now." he told the corpse as he pulled the shirt off the dead man. After removing the pants in the same fashion, he took a nearby piece of driftwood and pushed the body back out to sea, wading in as far as he could so it would be carried further out. A strange gnawing tugged at him as he watched the man bob aimlessly out to sea. Why did he care? The man was nothing to him.

He turned to scour the beach of what cargo had washed up or was floating nearby, partly to avert his attention from the image of the dead sailor. Quite a bit of it seemed to have accumulated in a calm catch of water surrounded mostly by rocks, and he picked through what was there to see if he could make use of any of it. There were several bolts of cloth, and some empty boxes and containers that must have had some kind of perishable goods in them. A bit further up he saw another box tipped over, this one with rice spilling from it. It had soaked up all the water it was able, and a sizable pile of it lay on the beach from where the tide had gone out. Mugen picked up handfuls, washing it in the water as best he could. It was salty, but he was full for the first time that he could remember.

Satisfied, he walked back along the beach and something else caught his eye. In the shallow water, near where the dead man had been lying, he saw something glinting in the morning sunlight. He walked over to investigate and saw what looked to be a handle partially obscured under the sand a few inches under the water. He tugged hard on it and was agape when it finally came free. He pulled on the handle again, and when it gave he was holding a sword in his hand, the sheath clattering to the sand with a hollow sound. He had never seen a real sword before, and this one, to him, was very grand indeed. It had a white handle with gold inlay, and the sheath seemed to be made of hard, smooth wood, also with gold laid into it. Two prongs protruded upward from the guard. Surely, it must have been the sword of some great pirate king, Mugen thought, his smile beaming. Now, it was his.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: _I can't believe the last time I updated was at Christmas last year. That is just awful. I do have the good excuses of a toddler and a full credit load at college to delay my writing, however. Fall semester starts a week from Monday so boo for that. Anyway, I hope someone out there is still reading…thanks!!_

Mugen held the sword up, it was heavier than he had expected. It wobbled a bit in his grasp, a tool not meant to be used by a child. Indeed, the length of it was not far from being as long as he was, but he wasn't deterred. A smile came to his face for the first time in a long time. He wondered where it had come from, and who had owned it. It didn't seem like something that common sailors would have on hand. He reached out and touched the blade, not carefully enough, and made a small cut on his thumb where he had gingerly touched the blade. It was sharp to be sure; he wondered if he would ever have to use it.

He leaned it up against a nearby rock, wanting to see what other treasures he could find in the wreckage. His mind was over the moon now, dreaming of all sorts of amazing things the simple men on their simple boat might have been carrying in secret. He dug around in the sand with his foot near where the sword had lain, then went over to the tide pool to see what other things he could pick from the cluster of goods floating there. There didn't seem to be anything wonderful; he was disappointed now to not find anything as great as his sword. His imaginings of gold, jewels, and other treasures began to wind down. He did take the few bolts of cloth that he found; they would make a good cover for his small home, to keep out the winds that blew in off the ocean through the spaces in the few boards.

Mugen carried the sword up first, carefully watching to make sure no one else was near to investigate the crash. People rarely ventured by, but he wasn't about to be too cautious with his newfound prize. Afterward, he took the cloth, and covered his lean to as best he could with it. The cloth was thick and heavy, and it took some time to unravel it and secure it over the boards. He was tired after all his work, and it was afternoon now, so he went back down to the shore to collect what rice was left and stretch out for a nap on the sand. His skin had long since been a rather deep tan, having been exposed to the elements for a good part of his life, so he had no fear of sleeping under the bright winter sun. The waves rolled in softly, and he dozed quickly.

That night, after managing to catch a few fish and cook them, he crawled inside his little dwelling and discovered that the fabric had helped quite a bit with keeping the warmth inside. He was glad that he had a warmer place to sleep at least in the winter. He wasn't so sure how it would work out in the summer. Settling in for the night, he heard something he didn't expect. At first he thought it was an animal rustling through the brush, but it was approaching quickly and was becoming much louder. Footsteps, the human kind, and more than one set it seemed. He could hear their voices now, arguing with each other.

"I'm tellin' ya, nobody lives out on this part of this island. The only people that live here are in those prison camps along the coast. The closest one's miles up or down the coast somewhere, no one can port here." someone was saying.

"Then where the hell'd all our loot go Matsu?!" the other voice asked, his tone angry and loud.

"How the hell am I s'pposed to know?" Matsu answered. "Just keep lookin' Goro, it's got to be around here somewhere. We steered that little boat right onto those rocks."

Mugen's eyes were wide in the dark, and his hand searched for his sword that he had brought into his shelter with him. His heart pounded behind his ribs, and he could hear the roar of the blood rushing in his ears. They were looking for the goods he had found on the beach that morning. His hand flinched when it touched the cold steel of the sword hilt; could he really use it, if he had to? Would he have to use it? What if they found him, and tried to hurt him, or worse?

"What are we doing wandering around in the dark looking for it anyway?" Matsu asked. "You can barely see anything out here in this damn jungle; how are we supposed to find it? Let's just wait till in the morning."

Mugen heard a strange scraping sound, and a gasp. "Well, if you're not really all that interested in findin' it, maybe I should just kill you and take it all for myself." Goro said, a hint of amusement in his dangerous voice.

"Quit screwin' around and put that sword away!" Matsu grumbled. "I'm lookin', ain't I?"

"Look, here's a place we can walk out and look over." Goro said. "This should be right about where the ship crashed, let's go and see what we can see from the point." he told his companion.

Mugen stiffened. His heart was pounding so that it shook his entire body, and he stayed flat on his stomach on the ground, as still as the rock he lay beside. He knew they would have to walk directly by him in order to walk out onto the point. There was no way they would miss seeing his shelter, especially now that it was covered in fabric. Their footsteps were so close that the sound seemed to crash through the foliage and pound in his head.

It was all strange to him; he had never really been frightened like this before. What was it he was so afraid of? So what if they found him and beat him up? It wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened. He had heard something that chilled him in the one named Goro's voice. If he had no qualms about killing his comrade, then what would stop him from carelessly slicing through him? He had known of many men like him while he lived with Maso, but had never been on the wrong end of their sword. Mugen slid his sword into a hollow spot under the rock next to him. He at least didn't want them to find it, and, just in case he had to use it…

"Just what the hell is this?!" Goro shouted, just above him now. His voice was so loud that Mugen's heart stopped momentarily, in fact, everything seemed to stop. He didn't want to die. He wasn't exactly sure why he wanted to live, but he didn't want to die here, now, at the hands of these ruffians. It seemed like such a useless and wasteful way to go. He gritted his teeth, his jaw clenched so tight that it hurt.

Suddenly, the boards covering him were thrown aside. The two men looked down at him, the moon lighting their faces with angry, questioning glares. He tried to spring up and flee, but one of them caught him by the hair and flung him to the ground, knocking the air out of him. The world grew dark for a moment, but his vision soon came back into focus. He was shoved hard against the rock that the boards had previously been leaning against; the bigger one had his fist around his shirt and was forcefully holding him there.

"Well, look at what we have here, Matsu!" Goro said. "We've found ourselves a thieving little rat! Come on kid, tell us where the rest of our pretty playthings are, and maybe we'll let ya live." he grinned, not an ounce of truth in his voice.

Mugen glared back at them. He didn't answer them; what was the point? He was tired of being pushed around by anyone that felt like it. He had told himself, when he left Maso's that day, that he was free to do as he pleased, that he answered to no one any longer. He stared into his captor's eyes, his own full of rage. The back of his fist collided with Mugens face.

"You little bastard!" Goro raged. "Tell us where the rest of it is _now_!"

Mugen couldn't help but smile a little. He couldn't help but feel good that the punk holding him wasn't going to get the best of him. Even if he died, he told himself, they still wouldn't get what they wanted. He didn't know what they were talking about anyway, all he had found was the fabric and the sword. Goro lost his temper then, and threw Mugen backwards to the ground with a snarl. His hand went to his side, reaching for the hilt of his sword.

Mugen lay stunned again for a moment; he had narrowly missed hitting his head on the side of the rock as he went down. But, his hand landed just by it, there at the hollow where he had hidden his own sword. His eyes snapped back to Goro, who was coming down on him now, his sword raised above his head. His eyes were blank, ready to kill.

Mugen grabbed the handle of his sword. He didn't want to die. It was only seconds before the sword came down on him. His mind blanked out; he tightened his hand around the hilt, and swung forward and out in an arc with all his strength. Something hot sprayed out onto his arms, his clothes, his face. He looked up, and saw Goro's sword clatter to the ground beside him. He was sinking to his knees, his eyes wild with surprise, horror, and pain. A large gash sliced its way across the breadth of his midsection, blood pouring out. Mugen rose to his knees, looking past Goro to his other enemy.

Matsu was too shocked for a moment to react, but then, charged forward, drawing his own sword. But, he was too slow; Mugen jumped forward, running his blade through nearly to the guard with the force of his spring. He heard Matsu gasping for air, his body slowly falling back off of Mugen's blade. He landed with a hard thud, and was silent. Mugen simply stood there under the moonlight, his chest heaving with the massive gulps of air he was taking in. His eyes darted across his surroundings, surveying for any other threat. As he calmed, he looked down at the bodies of the two men lying there, and down at himself as well.

He could see the darkness of the blood on his hands, and his shirt. He could feel it on his face as well. The men that had tried to kill him lay motionless on the ground, eerily silent and still, when they had been alive only moments ago. Mugen stood and stared at them. It had all been so simple. With just a swing of his arm, these men would never walk the earth again. He had taken their lives, because they had tried to take his. A strange, cold feeling crept into him, into his flesh and bones, and into his soul. He told himself he didn't care that he had killed them; they had deserved it. With his sword still in hand, he walked numbly down to the shore to wash off in the surf. He didn't care about the cold water and chill wind, he was already colder than he had ever been in his short life at that moment.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: _Well folks, if anyone's still out there reading, I can't tell you how much I really appreciate it. Toddlers and nursing school make for a veritable lobotomy, in case anyone is interested in getting one sans the surgery__. Anyway, in the two week lull between semesters, I managed to pull this together, and I hope its somewhat decent…I fear I've lost my touch after only managing to write two chapters in a year and a half (gags). I'm speeding things up a little for the sake of getting rid of the exposition.. Do enjoy if possible and feel free to dispense with any sort of feedback, again I really do appreciate it!_

Mugen stood at the water's edge, staring down into the waves lapping at the sand. He didn't know how long he had been there, unblinking, keenly aware although his mind was blank. He listened still with great effort, yet all he heard was the sound of the ocean and that of his own breathing, which had slowed, but wasn't quite normal; perhaps now it was a bit too slow. Somehow, he felt outside of his own body, or perhaps locked inside of it.

Slowly, he looked down at his hands and shirt again, unable to tell in the dim moonlight if he had successfully washed away as much of the blood from them as possible. His faced still dripped with salty sea water, he had washed it and his hair for what seemed like a long time, but he could still faintly discern the metallic, bitter taste of iron in the water running down from his head.

Finally, he turned and began to wander up the beach, away from the patch of land he had called home for what seemed to him like a long time. The sea breeze was cold on his wet clothes and skin, but he hardly noticed. He continued up the coastline, stumbling now and then over the jagged, rough rocks he had to climb over at times. Now and then he would scrape or cut his knee or leg on them, but he continued on until long after the sun had come up. Before noon, he came up on a stretch of land that sloped gently toward the sea, and collapsed from exhaustion, under some trees near the shore.

He decided then not to pass too much time in one place; apparently he had been lucky in remaining hidden for so long in the remote stretch of thick jungle that ran along side the coast. If he really wanted to keep trouble at bay, he would have to keep on the move, merely a shadow or phantom in the dense forest. He hoped it would be easier to find food this way too. Something in him was strangely uneasy though as he lie there staring up at the trees moving slightly in the wind. Everything was still and quiet, yet he seemed to want to be free of even his own skin, unable to stay still or rest. He dug his hands into his hair and ground his teeth together in frustration at himself. An image of his sword flashed though his mind, and he opened his eyes to look at it lying next to him. It was just a piece of metal fashioned into a blade, harmless and inanimate as it lay still upon the sand. Yet, in his own young hands, it had become something much more.

But, what? He reached down to touch the weapon, but stopped short for a moment. Why? He refused to think now that he was frightened by what had happened the night before. Fear was useless; fear for him was something long forgotten. The thought rose again that all he had remembered feeling for a long time now was anger, an anger which now grew stronger as he clenched his fists and jaw again, still staring at his sword. The worthless scum that tried to kill him had deserved to die at his feet. And so would any in the future that tried the same. He swore it to himself.

Life passed this way for Mugen for several seasons; he didn't stay in one place for very long, and always tried to avoid contact with others and the trouble they seemed to bring. He managed to become very quiet as he moved through the thick jungle, often passing close to people who had no idea of his existence. It was in this way that he acquired new clothes when he again had need of them; he had grown taller it seemed but not much else. One day while a traveler was swimming offshore, he had stolen his clothes, shoes, and the fish he had caught for dinner. The outer overshirt the man had been wearing Mugen cut up and fashioned into a strap for his sword to sling across his back. The shirt was too large and he didn't like it anyway, it was too brightly colored with an odd, sharp pattern. It was thick enough however to make a sturdy strap for his sword, along with the cord running through it that had been used to tie it closed.

He was glad when he was finished, it made it even easier to move around undetected, and he was able to become even quicker with his sword with his sheath secure. Sometimes he spent all day and into the night drawing it from the sheath and pretending the trees were his enemies, enemies like the ones that had tried to kill him on that night in winter. He had no style or way of fighting, as of course no one had ever taught him. But he seemed to be pulled into a trance once he was moving, and learned well to move fluidly around the trees, vines, and other foliage that grew in the jungle underbrush. Sometimes, he even closed his eyes; he was never really sure how he managed to dodge everything as he jumped and swayed; actually he never wondered about it at all. It just came naturally to him.

Though he usually remained out of sight or unnoticed, he often came across the bodies of people who had found themselves on the wrong end of a sword, knife, or other weapon. Often, they were people who were fleeing one of the criminal settlements for another, only to fight amongst themselves along the way, with death and bloodshed of course being the end result. He wanted to be ready in case he needed to defend himself. The need would arise all too soon.

Summer had come again and Mugen tried to be extra careful to keep to himself. Something about the oppressing heat and humid air made everyone that lived in the penal colonies that dotted the coast restless, so they often took to the forests or wandered to nearby villages in hopes of distraction. This summer was proving to be especially hot and unforgiving, and people seemed to be wandering about in droves, especially down to the ocean in search of relief. They seemed to be turning to the shade of the jungle as well as water and breeze of the ocean in much the same way Mugen had for so long, seeking outdoor shelter and solitude away from the close, uncomfortable quarters of the ramshackle towns. After all, no one would want to kill you if you weren't around to bother them.

One evening as it was drawing close to sundown, Mugen sat by the shore hoping that the slight wind from the ocean would offer some relief from the furnace yet another day had become. He heard footsteps in the sand, but this time he wasn't quick enough to disappear before the approaching strangers saw him. He stood and turned to look at them, he knew the odds were for them making trouble, just for the hell of it. He was right.

"Hey there runt, whadda ya think you're doing trying to free load on our camping spot?" one of the men asked. Mugen looked at him, at the same leering face and pretentious smirk that so many of the men in this area often wore. There were half a dozen of them, all standing around him now. To him, the faces all looked the same; he had been seeing those same faces all his life. He gave no reply.

"What are you staring at?" another asked. "He looks like a scraggly little mutt, standing there trying to look tough!" he laughed.

"By the way, what are you doing with a sword like that, kid?" a bigger, older man asked. "You been running around, trying to play pirate? You think you're tough?" he asked, his voice half sarcasm, half malice. "Maybe I wanna play pirate too. And I think I'll start by taking that sword of yours." He grinned, a crooked smile disfigured by a deep, jagged scar running down his face.

Mugen looked around him; he couldn't tell how many were armed. The older, bigger man had a sword, a few had daggers. The man that had first spoke began to walk slowly toward him. "So what is it kid? You gonna play nice?" he jeered, and Mugen knew it didn't matter. Either way, they would kill him for sport. He had seen enough children lying dead on the beach or in the forest for just such a reason.

As the man lunged toward him, Mugen closed his eyes, and thought of the forest. His hand reached back for his sword. He opened his eyes again, and looked at the man scrambling towards him. Things became fragmented. He felt himself moving as he so often did through the trees and vines of the jungle, saw the amber flash of the dimming sunlight glint on his sword as he slashed. Voices screaming, but not his.

When things finally came together in a rush, he looked wildly about him, his sword ready. Two of the cowards had fled, another lay on the ground with blood seeping from him. His initial attacker lay only inches away, a large gash where neck met shoulder, dead as well. One had collapsed over a rock, still holding the cut in his midsection. The older man merely stood in front of him quietly, as if waiting. A look of intrigue, but also uncertainty now was on his face.

"You're more than just a wayward pest, that's for sure." He said, a genuine smile this time playing across his scarred face. "It's almost a shame I have to kill you." He told Mugen, his smile fading as he charged toward him. Mugen held up his sword to block him, but the man knocked it out of his hands with his own sword. Mugen fell back and rolled as he swung for him, reaching out for his sword. The man kicked him and swung down, and although he had begun to roll out of the way again, the man pinned him just under the collarbone with his sword. Mugen cried out, but was still clear enough of mind to kick the man's legs from under him, pulling the sword free of his shoulder. He got up to run to where his sword had fallen, but tripped again dodging another attack, his sword now barely in reach.

Grabbing for it, he could only grasp the very end of the hilt. He held it as fast as he could and swung up, attempting to severe the man's head before he could strike again. He misjudged the amount of strength he had used and swung further than he intended. But to his surprise, the man stopped his attack and became slack jawed. Mugen looked up and saw that instead of beheading him with his sword, he had plunged a dagger into his neck. The older man gasped as he tried to speak, but ultimately fell onto his side, silent. Mugen looked at his sword. It still lay where he had grabbed for it, but the bottom of the hilt was missing. In his hand he held a bloody dagger, a saving grace he had not known until now was stored in the sword as an ace up the sleeve.

His hand then went to his shoulder, and he winced as he stifled a groan. A sharp, throbbing pain was building as the blood flowed, and Mugen knew he had to find a place to hide unless the other two came back for revenge. He would be useless to defend himself now. Slowly, he picked up his sword, placing the dagger back into the hilt after wiping it on his shirt. He was covered in blood again, but this time he did not care. It was his blood along with that of four other men, and all he could think about was finding safety, wondering if he would die from his wound.

He stumbled along the forest path that led away from the beach, looking as he went for a place he could hide in the underbrush. He wandered along, not realizing that he had stopped looking for shelter because he saw something up ahead. It seemed to be a person. Another attacker?, he wondered. But, he didn't think so; it was a figure unmoving that seemed to be wearing a strange type of cloak, almost as if it were covered in feathers. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? He tripped over a root and fell then, and discovered he was too weak to even get back up. A bird stared down at him from a tree, inquisitive, or perhaps pitying. So, this was the end then? What a stupid waste…

If he was dead, why the hell was he still in pain? Mugen wondered when the blackness cleared. His shoulder still throbbed terribly, and he was dizzy. A figure seemed to loom over him, but he was still too weak to get up. He looked up, trying to bring his eyes into focus. He saw something he didn't expect.

"Don't move, okay?" the girl said. Her face was etched with a strange look he wasn't sure he'd seen before. "I bandaged up your wound; you should stay here until you feel better. I'll bring you food and water when I can sneak away." she told him. His eyes focused further, and a girl nearly his age knelt above him, with tan skin and shoulder length brown hair. He was deep in the forest somewhere, the sun had just set, and the fireflies were out. She was still looking at him with that look. "I'm Koza." she told him, smiling now. "I'll be back later."


	16. Chapter 16

_Hey everyone (anyone?), thanks to anyone who is still out there reading and to those who may happen upon this and decide to read. I hope that I can update now with some more frequency, school is over for now and I've got a bit of free time before my state license exams. Thanks to any and all who read, feel free to leave feedback. I hope there's still a bit of halfway decent writing left in me __. _

Mugen lay against the old tree and drifted in and out of consciousness during the course of the night. Everything seemed foggy and far away, he was aware from time to time when a breeze would stir, or to the sounds of the night time insects droning throughout the forest. Indeed, time hardly seemed to pass at all when he became aware that the world was again growing brighter around him, and he dimly wondered if he was in danger in the approaching daylight, although he was still too weak to move very much. He was certainly too drained to stand on his own. His heart jumped quickly with apprehension and possible threat, but he lost consciousness again as a result.

"Are you…still alive?" a voice asked, stirring Mugen back to the surface. He weakly opened his eyes again, and tried to squint to get a better picture of the person's face.

The girl was back, what had she said her name was? He couldn't remember. That same look was on her face again.

"It's me, Koza." she said. "I was really worried about you. I hardly slept at all last night." she offered, but she smiled down at him. She was holding something in her hands. He tried without succeeding at focusing in on it.

"I brought you a few bites of rice and some water. It's all I could get and sneak away with." she told him, lowering her voice as if someone might hear. Mugen tried to look around, but didn't see or hear anyone else in close proximity to them, at least as far as he could tell with his addled senses.

She tried to feed him the bits of rice and tip the bowl of water so he could drink as best she could. She kept looking around though, and a look of fear was building in her eyes. _That_ was a look Mugen knew well. She looked as if she might dart away at any second.

"I have to go now." she whispered, her eyes still frantically searching their surroundings. "Stay here and wait for me ok? I'll be back tonight, or in the morning, when I can get away again." she told him, and hurried off after another quick survey of the area.

Mugen lay awake then, more refreshed and strengthened than he would have thought from the tiny portion of food and drink he had been given. What would make that girl so scared to be near him? It certainly wasn't _him_, since she was helping him. Of course it was always smart to be frightened in those surroundings, especially being alone, but she kept mentioning having to sneak away. From what? Mugen closed his eyes, and wondered why he even cared or was even bothering to think about it. What difference did it make to him?

He opened his eyes again, his brow furrowing. Something he couldn't place was making him feel uneasy, bothered. He didn't like it one damn bit. He'd never taken help from anyone before, and he didn't intend to start now. He didn't want to owe anyone anything. Ever.

In his aggravation, he pushed himself up into a sitting position. His head spun and he thought he might black out again, but he willed himself not to let it happen. He leaned back against the tree again and tried to get a closer look at what was around him. To hell with this injured animal crap, he thought to himself. A few feet away, he noticed some berries growing up the side of another tree, edible ones at that. He smirked to himself. There were quite a few of them by the looks of it. Slowly, he leaned over onto his uninjured side and used his good arm to crawl over to where the berries waited for him.

After he had eaten about half of them, he decided it would be better to save the rest for the next day. Looking down at his shoulder, he noticed that most of the blood had stopped flowing, although his clothes were covered in it. He'd get his strength back yet he vowed, but his vision was becoming blurry again, and he could feel his heart pumping hard in his chest before he collapsed.

"How did you get over here?" the girl, Koza's, shocked voice came. "You shouldn't have moved." she pointed out.

Mugen looked up at her, it was evening again, the same time of day as it had been when he had first seen her. She looked as if she had more water and something else to eat. Instead of being grateful, it angered him. "I don't want your help." he snapped, his voice sounding rough and gravely. "I don't take help from nobody."

The girl looked shocked, or hurt, he couldn't tell which. "Please," she said, "just take it. I went through a lot of trouble to bring it out here." she told him, but she didn't sound angry. She sounded more…Mugen didn't know. It was like she was really asking him to do something for her, although she was the one trying to help _him_.

"Leave it and get out of here then." he said, glowering at her. "Don't bother coming back. I said I didn't want your help." he informed her. He still stared up at her with a menacing look, or as much of one as he could muster. The girl's eyes looked as if they were filling up with tears. She sat the food and water down and turned away. She took a few steps and looked back again, the same teary eyed look on her face, then she turn and ran in the same direction she had gone earlier.

Days passed, and the girl didn't return. Mugen was glad. He didn't want to have to say worse things to her to make her go away, or worse, listen to her cry and whine. The last thing he needed was trouble which she was sure to bring with her, as everyone else he ran across had. Mugen gained strength day by day as he scoured the small area for berries and other small fruits or herbs. Finally, he made his way all the way down to the seaside and back, and was only slightly fatigued after climbing back up. Time to move on, he thought to himself. He was well enough.

Yet he stood in the forest, listening to the breeze stir the foliage around him. He couldn't place exactly what had changed, but something had. So, he had been nearly killed by another band of useless scum; it wasn't something that hadn't happened before. He had laid half dead in the forest for days, barely scraping by until he had healed. The only thing different that he could think of in the past several years was that someone else had been there this time, if only for a brief while. The girl had come to help him, when she didn't even know who he was. _He owed her_. Mugen began walking in the direction he had seen her run. He wasn't even sure why he cared. So what if she had helped him? It was her own doing; her decision. Yet he continued on.

After less than an hour of walking, he could hear people's voices. Not just a few, but many. He could tell he was nearing a village. It must be where the girl lived. He wandered into the village from the outskirts, casting a wary eye. There weren't many people here, or buildings for that matter, and it looked just as miserable as every other village on the island that he had seen. The people who passed him looked at him, then looked away. He was still covered in dried blood; not just his own but that of the last thugs who had attacked him. Someone stepped into the street in front of him.

"Look at this pathetic little bastard." the young man said, his tone jeering. "It looks like the poor kid's been hurt. Are you out looking for your mommy?" the teen asked, sliding a knife from his belt. "You won't find her here. I should do you a favor and cut you up…and feed what little is left of your scrawny hide to the dogs." he laughed. Mugen pulled his sword, and held it inches away from the older boy's throat in an instant.

"Go ahead and try it." he said darkly. "I kill pieces of shit like you before you even have a chance to shut your dumbass mouth."


	17. Chapter 17

_**AN: **Hey all you readers out there, I actually managed a semi-punctual update, or at least better than I've done in a while. Thanks again to everyone who's reading, I'll never get tired of saying that I appreciate it. Things are about to get a bit darker, and hopefully I'll be able to update again before long. It only took me two nights to produce this one, yay! Please let me know if it's any good, any feedback is always welcome. _

_Disclaimer: Don't own Samurai Champloo, and all that jazz._

The elder boy's face darkened into a sneer for a moment, before he began to laugh a bit again. But this time, the laughter wasn't as sure. His eyes held a passing glint of doubt and apprehension. It was because he had looked into the younger boy's eyes and seen that his words were not pretentious swaggering, but a deadly statement not to be taken lightly. Words such as his weren't uncommon to hear on a daily basis where they all lived, but seldom did they mean anything more than an attempt at intimidation. Not today.

"Wait! Please don't fight!" a breathless, fluttering voice shouted. Mugen cast an eye over the shoulder of his would be opponent. It was the girl, Koza. "Brother, please, don't hurt him!" she plead. Mugen's eyes darkened. As if he needed to be defended by a helpless girl; like he was no more than a mere infant.

"I don't need this shit." Mugen said as he lowered his sword, and turned to walk away. He sure didn't come here to be harassed by louts like this girl's brother, or to be insulted by being halfass 'protected' by her either. He knew coming here was a stupid idea. He scoffed a bit as he began to walk away, but kept his sword out just in case.

"Don't go!" Koza called out to him. "I just…want to make sure you're okay." she said, looking at the ground.

Mugen stopped where he was, and closed his eyes as well. His teeth ground hard until his jaw popped, and his hand tightened around his sword until it quaked. He didn't even know why he had stopped when she called out in the first place. Something about that simpering, pleading voice of hers was getting to him in some way. So what if he owed her something? How was he even supposed to repay it?

Koza's brother stood a moment and carefully watched the exchange. When he realized that Koza somehow knew the kid, when he had never seen him before, his first reaction had been to wheel on her and give her what for. She knew he didn't like her sneaking around and doing things he didn't know about. But, before he could act, an idea began forming in his mind. In just those few seconds, it was obvious for whatever reason that the girl had some kind of effect on this kid. This kid that he had seen could be very deadly if provoked, not like the other young jerks in the village who talked big but never backed it up. That, he had seen that just by looking him in the eye. Plus, he was barely more than a little kid, yet he stood before him with a sword, having obviously come out the winner in a fight that had wounded but not killed him. People on this island didn't wound and walk away; if the kid hadn't killed his attacker, he'd be dead himself.

He could use him, through Koza, if he played his cards just right. The kid was too wary right now, like a beaten dog, but if he could keep him here just a little while, then he could put him to good use. He was sure of it. If this kid wasn't afraid to fight and kill, nothing much else would scare or bother him either. There was a definite profit to be made if he worked the situation just right. He smiled to himself at his own manipulative abilities. They were, after all, what kept him alive. He began walking toward the kid's turned back. As he approached his left side, he could see the boy watching him carefully out of the corner of his eye, muscles taught; hand tight around his sword hilt.

"Hey, come on kid, I was just messing with ya!" he laughed, clapping his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You gotta learn how to take a joke sometimes!" he said, smiling in his serpentine way. "By the way, I'm Mukuro." he told him, still smiling, hiding nothing of his crooked intentions, although he hardly realized it.

Koza ran up to the pair. "Why don't you come and wash your clothes at least?" she asked Mugen.

"Yeah kid, you came all the way here looking for my sister, right? Might as well stay for a while, what do ya say?" Mukuro asked the still silent Mugen.

Mugen regarded both of them for a moment, and then began to move back toward the village. Maybe if he stayed the night to ease the girl's worries that would be enough to repay her. The way she was looking at him was simultaneously annoying and bothersome. She had that same look all the time it seemed, the odd look he had woken up to in the forest; wide eyed, questioning, almost frightened. Mugen moved slowly, his eyes not leaving Mukuro, his distrust still evident.

"Well I introduced myself, it would be rude if you didn't tell us your name." Mukuro told him, his tone still implying joking criticism. Mugen knew it was just a cover up; he wasn't as stupid as Mukuro was taking him for. He wondered for a moment what he was about to get himself into just simply by staying here even for a few hours.

"It's Mugen." he told him, his tone still low and menacing.

"Mugen, is it?" Mukuro said, looking over at Koza walking on the other side of their guest. She was watching Mugen intently, as though she were searching for some sign from him. Mukuro didn't know exactly what she wanted from this kid, but obviously it was something. He smiled to himself. He would orchestrate something later that would pull the kid closer in, he thought to himself. He could use one to work the other, and have both of them doing what he wanted. Maybe his luck was looking up after all.

Later that night, the three sat around a fire outside the small house that Koza and Mukuro shared. Little more than a thrown together shack made from discarded pieces of wood, it was still bigger than a lot of the small places he had seen across the island. Mugen sat a fair distance from the pair, still saying little and watching them carefully from across the fire. His shirts were stretched across sticks nearby, drying in the fire's heat. He still didn't know what he was doing there; he could have very well washed them in the ocean if he had really cared. But, he found that he was still a bit weak, although he was trying his best not to show it. It was past nightfall, and he didn't want them to see him nod off, or be near them when he did for that matter.

"Where are you going?" Koza asked the moment he rose from his place beside the fire.

"I'm going to go stretch out on the beach." He told her, not turning to face her, the irritation evident in his tone. "I'll come back for the shirts in the morning before I leave." he told her as he walked away. She didn't reply.

It was then Mukuro saw his first chance to turn things in his favor. He stood up and loomed over Koza, grabbing her by the arm. "So just who in the hell is this kid anyway?" he shouted. "Where the hell did he come from, and what have you been _doing_ with him?" he sneered. "You know how I feel about secrets between us, don't you?" he asked, his voice thick with perverse amusement. He pulled her close, then slapped her hard in the face. She fell to her knees, and trembled although she didn't cry. Her hand absently went to the side of her head where the skin was broken, the sting of her touch confirming that she was bleeding a bit.

"I..found him in the forest, while I was looking for herbs." she told him, which was the truth. "He was hurt, so I came back to check on him to make sure he was alive." she explained, leaving out the part where she had actually brought him some food and water.

"That's what I thought, you ended up with a stupid crush on a half dead kid." he scoffed. "Just remember, I'm the one who's taken care of you for all these years, like the dutiful big brother I am." he told her, the darkly joking tone returning. "He won't replace _me_." he jeered. Koza cast a sad and fearful glance at him, and began to walk away, toward the beach.

Mukuro chuckled quietly to himself as she walked away. Most of his tirade had been put on to push her toward keeping Mugen in the village, but there was more truth in it than he liked to admit to himself. They had lived together as brother and sister since either of them could remember, and he had killed their mother when she had flown into a rage on him one night some years past. Neither of them had ever known whether she was the natural mother to either of them, things were so chaotic in the place they lived. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the hold he had over Koza, and the thought of losing it made him unravel a bit. He scoffed to himself and stoked the fire a bit, and a few embers were carried away on the wind. He was confident he could make things turn out just as he hoped, in time.

Mugen heard soft footfalls coming toward him on the beach. They weren't fast, but they were steady. Too light and quiet to be anyone of real size, he kept his eyes closed. They stopped almost next to his head, and someone sat down beside him. He opened an eye and turned his head a bit to see who was there, although he already had a good guess. Koza sat there, her arms around her knees, which were curled at her chest. She didn't look at him, but sat with her eyes closed, sniffling softly.

Part of her wanted to pour herself out to him, this new person, who knew nothing of her past, or the lives any of them had led in that village. Part of her wanted him to ask what was wrong, so she could let loose the floodgates. Here was someone who could possibly help her escape the hell she called her young life, if she could get him to care enough about her. He had enough determination and strength of will to survive a terrible wound, and to fight his way through life. Strengths she would never have. But, if she could only bind herself to him, he could carry her through, and she could leave this place, her brother, the life she hated so much behind as she followed him.

"You run into a tree branch, or has someone been smacking you around?" Mugen's voice asked, although his tone was matter of fact. It was all Koza had needed.

She threw herself on him then, sobbing into his shoulder and clinging to him like a frightened child. "Please," she begged, "Please, don't leave me." Her body shook, and her hot tears ran off his shoulder to the sand.

Mugen was stunned into silence, and he didn't move. What the hell was he supposed to do now?


End file.
